
Class 



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Rnnk ' h - ' 



J 
THE 

REGISTER OF ARTS, 

i 

COMPENDIOUS VIEW 



OF 



SOME OF THE MOST USEFUL 



MODERN 



DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 



i. 



9St> 



^l^i(^ 



BY THOMAS GREEN FESSENDEN, 

AUTHOR OP THE MODERN PHI1.0S0PHER, OR TERRZBLS^ 
TRACTORATION, &C. &C. 



KNOWLEDGE IS POWER .....BACOITo 



PUBLISHED 

»y C. AND A. CONRAD, AND CO. NO. 30, CHESNT7T STREET, PHILA- 
DELPHIA, CONRAD LUCAS & CO. MARKET STREET, BAL- 
TIMORE, SOMERVILL ANP CONRAD, PETERSBURG,. 
AND BONSAL CONRAD & CO. NORFOLK. 

1808. 



DISTRICT OF PEJ\rj\rSYLVJAriJ, TO WITr 

,j g . BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twenty-first day 
^ ' '"^ of May, in the thirty-third year of the independence 
of the United States of America, A. D. 1 808, Thomas Green 
Fessenden of the said district, hath deposited in this office, the 
title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor in 
the words following, to wit : 

" The Register of Arts ; or a Compendious View of some 
the most useful modern discoveries and inventions. By 
Thomas Green Fessenden, author of the Modern Phi- 
losopher ; or Terrible Tractoration, &c. &c. 

Knowledge is power — Bacon." 

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United 
States, entitled, " An act for the encouragement of Learning, 
by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the au- 
thors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein 
mentioned." And also to the act, entitled " An act supple- 
mentary to the act, entitled, ' An act for the encouragement 
of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, 
to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times 
therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the 
arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other 

prints**' 

D. CALDWELL, 
Clerk of the District of Pennsylvania. 






CONTENTS. 



MACHINE for grinding colours. By Mr. James Raw- 

linson, - - - - -1 

Description of a wheel-drag. By Mr. Joseph Kneebone, 2 

Implement to enable shoemakers to work in a standing 

posture. By Mr. Thomas Holden, . - 5 

Cheap engme 'or raising water. By Mr. H. Sargeant 7 

Apparatus for driving copper bolts into ships. By Mr. 

Richard Phillips, - - -' - 10 

Apparatus for aqua tinta engraving. By Mr. Cornelius 

Varley - - - - . - 10 

On blasting rocks, by .'N'r. Fisher, - - - 11 

Apparatus for splitting logs of wood. By Mr. Richard 

Knight, - - - - - 13 

Machine for rooting up the stumps of trees. By citizen 

St. Victor, - - - - \ " ^^ 

Patent for tanning leather. By Mi- Anthony Fay, 15 

Observations on the weather By James Cooper, Esq. 18 

Method of extinguishing fire. By M. Van Marum 22 

Process for watering hemp. By v:. Bralle - ST 

Purification offish oil. By Mr. Dossie - - 29 

Account of an apparatus for purifying infected air. By 

M. Guy ton de Morveau - - - - 32 

On the substances used for the clarification of wines, &c. 

By M. Parmenlier, - - - - 34 

Glue from various materials, examined by M. Cadet, 37 
Facts relative to mildew. From Young's Annals, - 41 
Method of relieving swollen cattle. By Mr. Richard 

Eager - - - - - 45 

On the danger of using vessels of lead, &c. in dairies. 

By. Mr. Thomas Hayes, - - - 47 

On making butter and c ^eese. By Mr. Josiah Hazard 49 
Patent for forming the rigging and cables of ships of 

metal chains. By Mr. Slater, - - - 57 

On the use of steam as a vehicle for conveying heat 

from one place to another. By Count Rumford, 58 

Method of heating rooms by steam. By Mr. Neil 

Snodgrass, - - - - - 69 



IV CONTENTS. 

PA6X. 

Method of facilitating divers processes by the exclu- 
sion or extraction of air. By Samuel Bentham, Esq. 71 

Mix*s mainspring for carriages, - - - 7T 

Account of a method for preventing the premature de- 
cay of fruit trees. By. Mr. John Ellis, - - 79 

Description of a method of cultivating peach trees, with 
a view to prevent their premature decay, &c. By 
Thomas Coulter, Esq. - - - - 80 

Burning stubble. By Mr. W. Curtis, - - 82 

Communicdtions on paring and burning, - - 83 

Description of a boiler, inventtfd by Count Rumford 85 

Description of Mr. Loyd's patent boiler, for quick boil- 
ing, - - , . - - 86 

On making soap by steam and saving fuel. By Count 

Rumford - - - - 87 

Wooden matches for firing cannon. By C L. Cadet, 8T 

Theory of the fabrication of sulphurick acid. By Messrs. 

Desonnes and Clement, - - - - 89 

Method of rendering white-wash made with lime dura- 
ble—also, a method of making a composition, to be 
used as a substitute for drying oils. By General Le- 
vavasseur, - - - - 91 

Method of fermenting a large body of flour with a 

small quantity of yeast. By Mr. James Stone, 93 

On the bleaching powder of Tenant and Knox. By. 

M. Alyon, - - - - - 95 

Dutch method of curing herrings - - - 97 

1^1 ode of separating beer from yeast. By Mr. Felton 

Matthew, - - - - - 99 

Substance of the specification of "^Ir. Richard Tilly er 
Blunt*s patent, for a composition, to be used instead 
of yeast, - - - - - 100 

Substance of the specification of a patent, granted to 
IVir John Worth, for a preparation, or cement to 
preserve vessels from worms, - - 101 

Observations on raising and dressing hemp. By Ed- 
ward Antill, Esq. - - - - 102 

On the form of animals. By Henry Cline, Esq. 107 

Observations on the same, by the Editors of the Retro- 
spect of Discoveries, - - - - 109 

Account of ^W- Davy's Paper on the analysis of soils, 1 10 

Account of the double boats, built by the direction of 

Sir Sidney Smith, - - - - 115 

Account of the profit and losS in Merino sheep. By 

Robert R. Livingston, Esq. - - - 117 

On the use of lime with gunpowder. By H. D. Grif- 
fith, Esq. - - -. - - 132 

On the cultivation of potatoes from the rind. By the 

Rev- E. Whittle, - - - - 123 



CONTENTS. V 

PAGE 

Account of a method of destroying caterpillars on goose* 
berry bushes. By Mr. William Henderson, • 126 

On raising potatoes from seed. By Mr. Nehemiah 

Bartley, - - - - 138 

On the invention or discovery of the use and applica- 
tion of certain vegetables in dying, &c. By Edward 
Bancroft, Esq . - - - - - 129 

Observations relative to pruning orchards. By Thomas 

Skip Dyot Bucknall, Esq. - - - " 139 

Glue, the process to be observed in its manufacture. 

By William B Johnson, M. P. - - 141 

On extracting sugar from beet root. By Mr. Achard, 149 

Account of an experiment made to discover whether 
whole potatoes or cuttings are preferable for plant- 
ing. By Mr. Joseph Wimpey, - - - 153 

On a method of preparing oil-colour cakes, &c. By 

Mr. George Blackman, - - - 155 

New kind of paint. By ^^r. Carbonell, - - 157 

On the means of promoting the growth of yoimg fruit 
trees, on grass land. By the Rev. Mr. Germershau- 
sen. - - - - - 159 

On oil as a manure. By C. Baldwin, Esq. - - 161 

Improvement in bagging weaving. By Mr. Benja- 
min Haden - - - - 165 

Further observations respecting the best manner of 

planting potatoes. By Mr. Joseph Whimpey - 166 

Mr. Charles Frederick Mollersten's patent, for a com- 
position to render leather, woolen cloth, linen, and 
other stuffs water-proof, and impenetrable to hot 
and corroding liquors, &c. - - - 168 

Mr. Bell*s patent for making moulds to manufacture 
knife, razor, and scissor blades, various edge tools, 
forks, files, and nails, - - - - 169 

Method of preserving young trees from being injured 

by hares or rabbits. By William Patterson, Esq. 170 

The best mode of taking honey. From the Literary 

Magazine, - - - - -171 

Description of a submarine vessel, &c. By Mr. D. 

Bushnell, - - - - 172 

Substance of a specification of a patent granted to Den- 
nis McCarthy, for his new invented compound for 
covering houses, - - - 180 

On preserving seeds in a state fit for vegetation. By 

John Speyd, Esq. - - - - 181 

Description of a liqiior for discovering in wines the 
presence of such metals as are injurious to health. 
By Dr. Hahneman. - - - - 183 

On the Bavarian method of evaportmg salt waters. By 

Monsieur Bonnard, . , . - 183 



Vi CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



Method of connecting iron bars, &c. and coating them 
with lead, so as to form solid pillars for light-houses, 
By captain J. Brodie, - - - - - 186 

On the use of oxyds and calces of iron in dying cot- 
ton. By J. A Chaptal, ----- 187 

Mr. John Lewis's patent, for a means of preventing 

accidents in wheel carriages, - - - - 193 

Experiments and observations on calcareous and gyp- 
seous earths. By Mr. Chancellor Livingston, 195 

On making bread from rice, - - - - 210 

Observations on the effects of mordants in dying cot- 
ton red. By J. A. Chaptal, - - - - 212 

Experiments, made on a large scale, on the melting 
of iron in a reverberatory furnace. By G. A- Lam- 
padius, - - - - - - • - 216 

On the raising of red clover seed. By Ezra L'Hom- 

medieu, Esq. - - - - - - -219 

Observations on opium and its component principles ; 
with an account of various processes for obtaining 
it from the white poppy. By citizen Duruc, senior, 222 

On the culture of opium. From the Annals of Medi- 
cine. By Mr. John Ball, 230 

Experiments on the cultivation of the poppy plant, and 
the method of procuring opium, Sec. By Dr. Sha- 
drach Ricketson, - - - - - - 238 

Specification of the patent granted to Jonathan Wood- 
house, for a new method of forming a cast-iron 
railway, or plate, which may be usedm making iron 
rail roads, or ways, for the working and running "f 
wagons, drays, and other carriages, an publick roads ; 
and also a new method of fixing, fastening, and se- 
curing such cast-iron rail or plate on such roads, 236 

Account of the Pennrhyn iron railway. Communi- 
cated by the inventor, Mr. Benjamin Wyatt, - 239 

Substitute for verdigris. By Mr. Clagg. - - 241 

An essay on the expressing of oil from sun-flower 

seed. Sec. By Dr. John Morgan, - - - 243 

Letter of Mr. John Morel, to Mr. ('harles Thompson, 
secretary of the American Philosophical Society, 
relative to expressing oil from bene seed, - 247 

Account of a new method of bleaching cotton. By 

M. Chaptal, 248 

New method of preparing radical vinegar. From the 

Annalcs des Arts et Manufactures, - - - 25 1 

Method of procuring good water from wells. From 

the Decade Philosophique, - - - - 243 

Substance of the specification of a patent granted to 
Mr. Arnold Wilde, and Mr. Joseph Ridge, for 
making and manufacturing different kinds of saws, 253 

Methods of preparing a species of writing ink, indeli- 



CONTENTS. Vli 

PAGE 

ble even by the action of the oxygenated muriatick 
acid ; communicated in a letter from M. Scherer to 

Mr Van Mons, - 255 

Mr. James Barrett's patent for improvements in the 

construction of malt kilns, - - - - 256 

Observations on the same by the editors of the Retro- 
spect of Discoveries, - , - « 258 
On the distillation of ardent spirits, and the preparation 

of yeast. By Baron Von Mestmacher, - - 259 

French mode of making saltpetre. By James Vas- 

sey, Esq. ... - - 266 

Substance of the specification of a patent granted to 
Mr. William Kerr for an improvement in brevi^ing * 
Ale, Beer, Porter, and other malt liquors, vj^hereby a 
great saving is made in the consumption of hops, 269 

Experiments on the purification of crude saltpetre, by 
means of charcoal powder. By Mr. John Gadolin, 
member of the Royal Academy of Stockholm, 270 

On the utility of iron railways. By Joseph Wilkes, Esq. 282 
Description of a method of sweeping chinmies without 

the inhuman practice of employing children - 285 

Account of the method of making ice at Benares. By 

John Lloyd Williams, Esq. - - 286 

Sketch of some of the principal American manufac- 
tures and manufactories, bridges, canals, turnpike' 
roads, agricultural improvements, patent inventions 
&c- Collected from various sources by the editor, 290 

jMauufactures, &c of Vermont, - - - 290 

' assachusetts, - - - 293 

Bridges in a assachusetts, - » - - 296 

Manufactures, in Rhode Island and Providence Plan- 
tations, - . . . . 297 

— Connecticut, • - - - 298 

State of New- York, - - 299 

New Jersey, - - - - 300 

Bridge at Trenton, - - - - - 303 

Agriculture, manufactures, bridges, &c. of Penn- 
sylvania - - - - - - 306 

Improved mode of CO 'Structing barns, - - 307 

American Philosophical Society, - - - 310 

Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, - - 310 

Philadelphia Manufacturing Society, - - 31 L 

Bridges, - - - - - sn 

General observations on the Schuylkill bridge, - 321 

Recipe for composition to imitate stone - - 324 

Artihciai mineral waters, - - - 326 

Coal mine on the river Lehigh, - - - 330 

Distilleries, - - - - - - 331 

Shot manufactories, - - - . 332 

Steam Engines, - - , - - - 333 



VIU CONTENTS. 

Mill macliinery. By Mr. Oliver Evans, - - 335 
Specification of Mr. Evans's improvements in mill ma- 
chinery, - - - . - - 337 
Catalogue of statues and busts in the Pennsylvania 

Academy of the Fine Arts, - - - - 344 

Philadelphia Museum, - - - - - 354 

Patent iron bound boots, bootees, and shoes, - - 360 

The pneumatick cock. By Mr. Robert Hare, - 361 

Hydrostatick blow-pipe, - - - - - 362 

Improvement in printing. By Mr. Hugh Maxwell, - 363 

Manufactures in Delaware, - - - - 364 

Manufactures, Sec of Maryland, - - - - 365 

Agriculture, Manufactures, Canals, &c. of Virginia, - 366 

Mineral springs in Virginia, - - - - 368 

Agriculture and manufactures, &c. of Kentucky. - 370 
Manufactures, agriculture, and antiquities of the state 

of Ohio. - 371 

Agriculture, manufactures, &c. of North Carolina, - 373 

■ of Tennessee, - 374 

■ ' of South Carolina, - 375 

' _—».„_ mineral springs, &c. of 

Georgia, - - - . „ . 377 
Agriculture, manufactures, &c. of the Mississippi 

Territory, - - - - - 379 

Manufactures, &c. of Louisiana, - - - - 380 
Appendix, - -- - - -383 

PLATES. 

1, Description of a wheel drag, and a cheap engine for raising 
water. 

2. Description of instruments for relieving cattle that are 
swollen or hoven, and of iron railways. 



PREFACI* 



THE object of the following wort is to pre- 
sent to the American publick useful information 
in agriculture, and the arts; The editor has se- 
lected from every quarter, within the reach of his 
means, such intelligence as promised to be of 
particular advantage to the citizens of the United 
States. He has devoted much time and been at 
very considerable expense to collect the contents 
of this volume. 

There can be no doubt but that many of the 
articles which follow in this work will appear to 
men who have devoted their lives to the arts, and 
those sciences which are most immediately con- 
nected with them, as trite and little worthy of no- 
tice. But what might seem to such persons as 
merely common place information may, perhaps, 
prove valuable to others, whose time may have 
been devoted to pursuits of a different nature ; and 
many men who are professed artists or practical 
agriculturists may not be in possession of great im- 
provements and discoveries, which may have been 



X PREFACE. 

by the eflfect as well of accident as science, made by 
others engaged in the same or similar occupations. 

In culling from foreign journals, the editor has 
confined himself to such papers as promise to be 
of practical utility in the United States. Much 
of the matter contained in those of the greatest cele- 
brity in Europe, consists of the speculative opinions 
of theorizing philosophers, or is local and of little 
or no importance to the citizens of the United States, 
A publication of the kind now presented, may, 
it is hoped, prevent the necessity of purchasing and 
the labour of exploring bulky and expensive volumes, 
and supply the ingenious agriculturist, artist, and 
mechanick, not only with divers processes for faci- 
litating and rendering more productive their labours, 
but likewise furnish them with useful hints, which 
may lead to further improvements and inventions. 

The editor would have been happy to have pre- 
sented the publick with furdier specimens of Ameri- 
can ingenuity, on topicks connected with the design 
of this work, but he generally found a reluctance in 
those persons who had made any considerable dis- 
coveries or improvements in any of the useful arts, 
to make publick their inventions : alleging, and 
as the editor believes, very truly, that the patent law 
of the United States, and the decisions of our courts 
] thereon, as they now stand, do not give sufficient 
security to the patentee, in the property of his in- 
vention. He is therefore induced to divulge no more 
of the process than what might be deemed absolutely 
necessary to entitle himself to a patent ; and confine 



PREFACE. XI 

the principles of his invention to his own workshop. 
The editor has understood, however, that exertions 
have lately been making to give to inventors a more 
certain, better defined, and more durable property 
in their inventions, and thus by rewarding ingenuity, 
to call forth the exertions of the ingenious. Should 
the veil be thus removed and the editor be allowed 
the privilege, he hopes in some future publication, 
which may serve as a continuation of this work, 
to exhibit to the publick further proofs of the inge- 
nuity and inventive powers of his countrymen. 

PhUadelphia, May 20, 1808. 



THE 

REGISTER OF ARTS, 



MACHINE FOR GRINDING COLOURS. 

rROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURACiK^ 
MEJfT OF AJITS, MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCE. 

iVlR, James Rawlinson, of Derby, presented a mo- 
del of this machine to the Society of Arts, for which he 
received the silver medal and ten guineas* He used the 
machine for several years, and has found it much more 
effectual and expeditious in reducing the colours to ex- 
treme fineness, than the usual method, and much less 
injurious to the health of the workmen, who frequently 
have done as much v/ith it in three hours as they could in 
twelve with the muller and slab. 

The machine consists of a flat cylinder of black mar- 
ble, sixteen inches and a half in diameter, and four and 
a half in thickness, with an axle traversing its centre 
(thus somewhat resembling a common cutler's grind- 
stone.) It is suspended on ^ similar frame, in a vertical 
position, and turned round in the same manner by a 
winch ; a concave piece of marble is provided of thp 
same breadth as the circular stone, forming a segment 
of the same circle one third of the circumference in ex- 
tent. This, which may be considered as the muller, is 
fitted into a piece of solid wood of-similar shape, one 
end of which is secured loosely by a hinge, or otherwise 
tp the frame j the other end rising over the circular 

B 



2 DESCRIPTION OF A WHEEL-DRAG. 

stone and supported by it, is further pressed down on it 
by a long spring, bent over from the opposite extremity 
of the stand, and regulated, as to its pressure by a screw 
whose end turns against the concave muUer; a slight 
frame of iron in front, moveable on a hinge, by which it 
is secured to the frame, supports- a scraper for taking off 
the colour, formed of a piece of watch spring, which is 
turned back out of the way when not in use. 

Mr. Rawlinson thinks that the circular grindstones 
might be made much larger than that he used, to advan- 
tage, and that one of two feet diameter would not occa- 
sion too much labour for one man to turn it. He com- 
putes that in his machine there are seventy square 
inches of the muUer in constant work on the paint, while 
in the common muUer not more than sixteen square 
inches are usually in contact with the slab. The ma- 
chine? will be found equally serviceable for the colours 
ground in water as for those prepared with jil, according 
to Mr. Rawlinson, who highly recommends its use to 
all colour men. 

Mr. Rawlinson advises to make up the colours in 
bladders, and to insert a bit of quill or reed in the neck 
of the bladder, which will thus bind better in tying; 
and admitting of a secure stopper, will be more cleanly 
and less wasteful than the usual method of stopping by 
a nail, and keep the colour more safe from the air. 



DESCRIPTION OF A WHEEL-DRAG, 

FOR PREVENTING ACCIDENTS, WHICH FREQUENTLY HAPPEN 
TO HORSES. DRAWING LOADED CARTS DOWN STEEP HILLS ; 
BY MR. JOSEPH KNEEBONE, OF MARAZIONE, CORNWALL. 
WITH A PLATE. 

FROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, &C. 

A BOUNTY of twenty guineas was given to Mr. 
Kneebone for this invention. 

A letter which accompanied the description of this 
machine states, that this drag is a safe and effectual 
method of stopping carts, or other two-wheeled carriages 



DESCRIPTION OF A WHEEL-DRAG. 3 

in descending steep hills, so as to take off the great 
burden from the back of the shaft horse, and to permit 
the carriage to descend with the greatest safety and ease, 
even in the most mountainous country, and that within 
these six months its use has become general, particularly 
among farmers j also, that it may be applied to any kind 
of roads, not being subject to the inconveniences of 
locking poles, which in rough roads or deep ruts, are 
very apt to overturn carts, by the sudden resistance 
they meet with. 

By enlarging the wheel, and increasing the length of 
the shoulders, the drag will become less liable to be 
choaked with mud, and will adapt itself to hills of 
little or considerable steepness, which it does very 
readily by placing itself less or more forward. It does 
not appear that any great weight is applied to the wheel, 
and for that reason, wheels of cast iron, with spokes, 
will answer equally well, are lighter, and less expensive. 

It should be shod with iron or steel, on the part on 
which the greatest pressure is applied, by fixing on it a 
plate by means of two holes in its bottom, which will 
always receive a similar piece when it may be wanted, 
so that the drag is easily kept in good repair. 

The letters containing this information were followed 
by certificates, signed by three farmers and carters, 
stating, that they had made use of this wheel, by apply- 
ing it to their carts j that it is simple and easily applied ; 
and that it effectually stops two wheeled carriages, in 
descending steep hills ; taking off the additional weight 
thrown on the back of the shaft-horse, so as to enable 
them to convey as much weight down the steepest hill 
as on a level, and with as much ease to the shaft-horse. 

They apply the wheel-drag on the brow of the hill 
to the near wheel, fastening it to the shaft by a 
chain, to prevent the wheel from passing over it in 
case of great obstacles, and they have never observed 
that deep ruts or loose stones in any manner lessen the 
advantages which this contrivance is calculated for. 
Instead, of a loaded cart running on the heels of the 
shaft-horse in descending hills, this drag, by supporting 
and elevating the wheel, places it on a level, so as to 
oblige the horse to draw a small burden ; and in some 
instances it is even necessary to link the chained horse 
to the drag-wheel side, by which means a weak horse 
maty he placed within the shafts without any danger. 



4 DESCRIPTION 01 A WHEEL-DRAG. 

After the cart is descended to the bottom of the hiH', 
the drag is taken off and hung under the cart. 

EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURE. 

C See plate /, Fig, 1,J 

a a a. A piece of v/rought iron, curved to the exact 
form of a cart wheel, with the thickest part at b. 

1, 2, 3, 4, are shoulders which keep the wheel within 
the drag, and should be about four inches high. 

c. The wheel made of solid iron, nearly as wide as 
the drag, and seven inches in diameter ; it runs on its 
axis at d, has a strong shoulder, and standing forward, 
resists the jolts of rough roads. 

e. The chain to be fastened to the near shaft, to 
keep the drag properly under the wheel, which from 
jerks might be apt to pass over the drag and leave it 
behind ; this is a proper precaution, though seldom 
wanted, if the drag is well constructed. In the shouU 
ders 1 and 3, are shov/n holes, b)'- which the drag ik 
hung on hooks, at the under part of the tail of the 
cart when out of use. 

REMARK BY T, G. F, 

This machine, although very simple, may be made 
very useful in many pans of the United States, It will 
be obvious to the intelligent farmer, that the whole 
apparatus, excepting the chain, may be made of tough 
wood, the parts being of somewhat thicker dimensioniB 
ch?ai those above described. 



IMPLEMENT rOR SHOEMAKERS. 



IMPLEMENT 

TO Enable shoemakers to work in a standing i»os-» 
' ture. 

FROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, &C. 

^^4^;, FIFTEEN guineas were given to Mr. Thomas 
Hoiden, of Fettleworth, Sussex, by the Society of Arts, 
for contriving this implement. 

" It resembles a stand, such as is used for reading 
desks ; at its top is a small block of wood, excavated 
so as to form a proper bed for the last, and the moulds 
or instruments, used in making boots, which are kept 
firm upon it by a stirrup or endless strap. 

" T)iis hollow block is joined into another piece 
(which connects it with the stand) so as to admit of a. 
vertical motion ; and it is retamed at any angle in this 
motion, by a circular catch, with notches formed in its 
side to fasten it on an iron catch projecting from the 
lower piece. This lower piece is shaped into a small 
cylinder beneath, which entering into a hole formed for 
it in the top of the pillar of the stand, permits the hol- 
low block to be moved round about, without stirring 
the stand ; so that by the combination of these two 
motions, it may be placed in any position. 

" Behind the hollow block and on a level with it, a 
horizontal piece of board is supported by a small pillar, 
rising from one of the feet of the stand, and secured 
firm by a brace to the stand itself. This board supports 
the tools and implements wanted^ ready at hand for 
the workman's use. 

" The design of this invention is to obviate the 
necessity of using that very unwholesome posture in 
which shoemakers are accustomed to work ; which com- 
presses the lungs and bowels in such a manner, as to 
occcasion consumption, inflammation of the bowels, and 
a variety of other frightful complaints. 

''• The efficacy of the alteration of posture, permitted 
by this instrument, which enables the workman to stand 
at his w^ork, is very well proved in the case of the in- 
ventor of it, who has produced a medical certificate, 
that he was for many years so afflicted with bowel com- 
plaints and piles, that he was under the necessity of 
leaving off his trade entirely, if he could not contrive 



w IMPLEMENT FOR SHOEMAKERS. 

to work Standing ; and that since he has made use of 
this implement his complaints are entirely removed, 
and he is so improved in flesh and countenance that he 
*' looks not like the same man ;" and for some years 
he had no occasion for medicine. He has made many 
hundred pairs of shoes on this stand, and recommends 
its general use as " the quickest way of closing all the 
thread work." 

The editors of the " Retrospect of Discoveries" make 
the following, among other observations on this inven- 
tion. 

" This implement might be made still more simple 
by leaving out the part used to give the hollow block 
a circular motion, which does not appear necessary, from 
the facility which the workman has, when standing at 
it, to place himself instantly at any side of his work he 
pleases ; and it seems therefore it would be full as little, 
or rather less trouble to him to let the instrument re- 
main unmoved, and turn himself round instead of it, as 
to stand still while he turned it about. 

" A wooden vice of a proper height, fixed to a stake, 
and secured even by a wedge, if a screw should be deem- 
ed expensive, would also hold a last in any position re? 
quired for the workman. 

" These circumstances are mentioned, because the 
invention is highly valuable, and whatever can tend to 
render it cheaper, or enable the workman to procure 
other instruments for this purpose, which chance might 
render more easy to acquire, or his fancy make more 
agreeable, must be of use. 

" It would be a matter of great humanity to persuade 
other orders of workmen, as well as shoemakers, to work 
in postures less injurious to their health than those they 
are in the habit of using, some of which use them with- 
out any apparent reason : for instance taylors, who could 
full as well perform their work standing or sitting before 
a table which supported it, as by coiling themselves up 
into a form equally preposterous and useless, and still 
more injurious than that used by shoemakers, as it com-r 
presses and deranges the vital parts still more, while 
at the same time it cripples their limbs. But such is the 
force of custom, that sickness, pain, and ridicule are 
endured rather than change a useless posture, which 
nothing but the total absence of chairs and tables can 
^excuse, and which can now serve no purpose but to 
prove the antiquity of the profession to have preceded 



CHEAP ENGINE FOR RAISINB WATER.' ft 

the invention of furniture. But as this is a point no one 
will dispute, it is to be hoped some of them will have 
sense enough to lay it aside ; and that some masters 
may be induced to provide tables at which men may 
work either standing or sitting as they choose ; who 
would find their account in this piece of humanity, both 
in having the work less interrupted by a change of hands, 
in keeping it more clean, and probably also in other 
particulars. Much might be added also here, with 
propriety, as to the humanity of having workshops of 
all kinds, where many men work together, better venti- 
lated and larger, to improve the health of the workmen, 
but that it is feared the observations on this subject will 
be thought already too much extended," 



CHEAP ENGINE FOR RAISING WATER. 



f ROM A LETTER WRITTEN BY MR. H. SARGEANT, OF WHITE- 
HAVEN (ENGLAND) TO MR. TAYLOR, SECRETARY TO THE 
SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF ARTS.* 

IRTON-HALL, the seat of E. L. Irton, Esq. is 
situated on an ascent of sixty, or sixty-one feet perpen- 
dicular height ; at the foot of which, at the distance of 
about 140 yards from the offices, runs a small stream 
of water. The object was to raise this for domestick 
purposes. 

To this end a dam was made at a short distance above, 
so as to cause a fall of about four feet ; and the water 
was brought by a wooden trough, into which was inserted 
a piece of two inch leaden pipe, a part of which is seen 
at A. plate I. fig. 2. 

The stream of this pipe is so directed as to run into 
the bucket B. when the bucket is elevated ; but so soon 
as it begins to descend, the stream flows over it, and 



• * From the Transactions of the Society of Arts, for 1801. A 
silver medal was given to the inventor. See likewise Nicholson's 
Journal for May, 1802^ 



ft CHEAP ENGINE TOR RAISING WATER. 

goes to supply the wooden trough or well in which the 
foot of the forcing pump C, stands. 

D is an iron cylinder attached to the pump rod, which 
passes through it. The cylinder is filled with lead, and 
weighs about 240 pounds.''*^ This is the power which 
works the pump, and forces the water through 420 feet 
of inch pipe from the pump up to the house. 

At E is fixed a cord, which, when the bucket comes 
within four or five inches of its lowest projection, be- 
comes stretched and opens a valve in the bottom of it, 
through which the water empties itself. 

This machine must be so constructed that the bucket 
end may finish its stroke, when the beam or lever, by 
which it is suspended, comes to a horizontal position, 
or a little below it. Bv this means the lever is virtual- 
ly lengthened in its descent in the proportion of radius 
to the cosine of about thirty degrees, or as seven to six 
nearly, afid consequently its power is increased in an 
equal proportion. 

The valve may be opened in the way here described, or 
by a pin projecting from the bottom. 

This pump requires about eighteen gallons of water, 
in the bucket, to raise the counter-weight, and make a 
firesh stroke. It makes three strokes in a minute and 
gives about half a gallon into the cistern. Or, as ob- 
served bv Mr. Nicholson, in his Journal for ^^lay 1802, 
with a fall of four feet and consumption of eighteen gal- 
lons, it raises half a gallon through sixty feet. That is 
to sav, 12 parts of water raise 5 parts.? Its rate is about 
one eighth part of one man's work ; and it throws up 24- 
hogsheads in a day. It may be stopped to save wear, by 
merelv casting off the string of the bucket valve. 

The only artists employed, except the plumber, were 
a country blacksmith and carpenter ; and the whole 
cost, exclusive of the pump and pipes did not amount 
to five pounds sterling. 



* This cvlir.der mlglit, for the sake of economy, be made cf 
Tvood, and £iled with, gravel or sand, provided the weight were 
sufficient. 

t Accurately, allowing the height to be €4 fee^ 73 ?art« of 
wat^ will raise 30,5. T. G. F. 



CHEAP ENGINE FOR RAISING WATER, 



REMARKS BY T. G. F. 

The simplicity of construction, and the cheapness of 
this machine must render it worthy of attention^ not 
only for raising water for domestick purposes, but in 
many cases it might be turned to account in agriculture 
by watering upland fields, gardens, &c. 

This engine, although the most simple of any which 
has fallen within our notice exhibits but one of a great 
variety of methods which engineers have adopted for 
raising a part of a stream of water above its level by 
force of its fall. Machines for accomplishing the sattie 
object, but of a more complicated construction, are de- 
scribed in philosophical Journals. The invention of Mn 
Close published in Nicholson's Philosophical Journal for 
January 1802, and analysed by Mr. Nicholson, in his 
Journal for February, the same year, of a hydraulick 
apparatus, acting by a syphon, Mr. Trevithack's powerful 
engine for raising water by the pressure of a column, 
enclosed in a pipe described in Nicholson's Journal 
for March 1802, improvements on the hydraulick en- 
gine of Schemnitz, and that of Mr, Goodwyn by Mn 
John Whitley Boswell, likewise described in Mr, Ni- 
cholson's Journal, have all the same object. But, after 
having attentively perused these, I am of opinion that 
the machine, here described, will be found to possess 
much the greatest general utility. 

Since writing the above^ I have seen a corroboration 
of my opinion relative to the utility of this invention, 
in a work published in England, with the title of " Re- 
trospect of Arts," p. 318-19. 



to APPARATUS FOR DRIVING COPPER BOLTS. 

APPARATUS FOR DRIVING COPPER BOLTS 

INTO SHIPS. 



BY MR. RICHARD PHILIPS, 

f^ROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, 8cC. 1801. 

THE Society adjudged a reward of forty guineas 
to the inventor. 

This instrument consists of a hollow tube, formed 
from separate pieces of cast iron, which are placed 
upon the heads of each other, and firmly held thereto 
by iron circles or rings over the joints of the tubes. The 
lowest ring is pointed, to keep the tube steady upon the 
wood. The bolt being entered into the end of the hole 
bored in the wood of the ship, and completely covered 
by the iron tube, is driven forward within the cylinder, 
by an iron or steel punch, placed against the head of 
the bolt, which punch is struck by a mall ; and as the 
bolt goes further into the wood, parts of the tubes are 
unscrewed and taken off, till the bolt is driven home 
into its place up to the head. The tubes are about five 
inches in circumference, and will admit a bolt of seven 
eighths of an inch in diameter. 

REMARK BY T. G. F. 

We need not suggest to the ingenious mechanick 
the variations of which this simple contrivance is sus- 
ceptible, so as to be applicable to the purpose of driving 
spikes, long nails, &c. In many instances a simple iron 
tube without joints, of a diameter merely sufficient to 
admit the head of the spike or nail, with a punch of 
a due size, will be found adequate to the purpose, and 
will enable the workmen to drive the spike or nail much 
tighter than could otherwise be done. 



APPARATUS FOR AQUA TINTA ENGRAV- 
ING. 

DESCRIPTION OF AN APPARATUS TO PREVENT THE INCONVE- 
NIENCE WHICH ARTISTS EXPERIENCE FROM THE FUMES 
IN AqUA TINTA ENGRAVING. PHIL. MAG. NO. 90. 

IN the art of aqua tinta engraving, the artists ex- 
Ijerience much inconvenience from the quantity of fumes 
liberated by the action of the acid upon the copper. 



APPARATUS FOR AC^tJA TINTA ENGRAVING. 11 

To remedy this the following arrangement has been 
proposed by Mr. Cornelius Varley. Get a frame 
made of any kind of wood, three or four inches deep, 
covered with a plate of glass and open at one side. 
Let the side opposite to this have a round opening com- 
municating by means of a common iron pipe, with the 
ash pit of any little stove or other fire place, shut up 
from all other access of air but what must pass through 
the pipe. Any fumes arising from such a frame will 
be carried into the iron pipe by the current of air re- 
quired to maintain combustion in the stove ; and will 
by this means be carried up the chimney, wherever it 
may be, instead of being allowed to fly about the apart- 
ment. The pipe may be very conveniently used, by 
carrying it down through the table to the floor, and 
thence along to the chimney, wherever it may be ; and 
when the fr^me is not wanted, the pipe at any one of 
the joinings may be made to answer the purpose of a 
hinge, by which to turn up the frame against the wall, 
where it may be secured while out of use, by a button, 
oj" any similar contrivance. 

REMARK BY T. G. F. 

This invention, from its simplicity and obvious utility, 
promises to be generally adopted. A plan in some de- 
gree similar, but more complicated, was recommended 
by M. Boulord, of Lyons, architect, for preserving the 
health of those who are employed in grinding colours. 
It is described in the fifth volume of the Repertorv of 
Arts, 



ON BLASTING ROCKS. 

IMPROVEMENT WHEREBY THE DANGER OF ACCIDENTAL EX? 
PLOSION, IN BLASTING ROCKS IS, IN A GREAT MEASURE OB- 
VIATED. PHIL. JOURN. NO. 47. 

THE principal danger attendant on blasting does 
not consist in stemming upon the charge of powder, but 
in the subsequent operation of drawing the iron rod, 
called the pricker, which makes the channel for the 
priming straw j for it frequently happens that the friction 



12 ON BLASTING ROCKS. 

of the lowest part of the pricker against the rock fires 
the powder, and an explosion is produced which places 
the life of the workman in the utmost danger. 

To obviate this danger, Mr. Fisher, of Dalton, pro- 
poses an improvement, which consists in the use of a 
copper rod, or pricker instead of one of iron. Upwards 
of three years have elapsed since this improvement was 
adopted in a very extensive work, where accidents were 
frequent before, and as no accidental explosion has since 
taken place at the end of stemming, Mr. F. considers 
the invention as almost infallible. 

Mr. Fisher thinks that the use of sand in blasting is 
preferable ia deep holes ; but that it is more liable to be 
blown out than stemming. He also considers it as the 
most advantageous mode of working in driving levels, 
and blasting in firm rock, to use strong charges of pow- 
der, that the stone may be sufiiciently broken by the 
explosion to be removed without much assistance from 
the hammer, the pick, or the lever. 

The following article suggests another important im- 
provement in blasting rocks. 

Account of a method of increasing the effects of 
gunpowder ; showing also the necessity of certain pre- 
cautions in loading fire arms. From the Journal des 
Sciences et des Arts. 

We have been informed bv Mr. Humbold, counsellor 
of the mines to the king of Prussia, that the eifects of 
gunpowder in mines, &c. have been found to be very 
much increased by leaving a considerable space between 
the powder and the wadding. He also informs us, that 
the person who made this discovery was led to it by the 
consideration of a fact well known, but which cannot 
be too often published ; namely, that a musket, fowling 
piece, &c. is very apt to burst, if the wad is not ram- 
med down close to the powder.* 

Without undertaking to show how far these circum- 
stances are analagous to each other, we think it may 
not be amiss to mention two other facts of a nature 
similar to the above. 

First, If a bomb or shell is only half filled with gun 
powder, it breaks into a great number of pieces ; where- 



* Hence it is obvious, that in loading- a screw-barrel pistol, care 
should be taken that the cavity for the powder be entirely filled with 
it, so as to leave no space between the powder and ball. 



APPARATUS FOR SPLITTING LOGS OF WOOD. 13 

as, if it is quite filled, it merely separates into two or 
three pieces, which are thrown to a very great distance. 
Secondly, If a trunk of a tree is charged with gunpow- 
der for the purpose of splitting it, and the wadding is 
rammed down very hard upon the powder, in that case, 
the wadding is only driven out, and the tree reniains 
entire ; but if, instead of ramming the wadding close 
to the powder, a certain space is left between them, 
the effects of the powder are then such as to tear the 
tree asunder. 



APPARATUS FOR SPLITTING LOGS OF 

WOOD, 

A SIMPLE APPARATUS FOR BREAKING UP LOGS OF WOOD, BY 
THE EXPLOSION OF GUNPOWDER. BY MR. RICHARD KNIGHT. 
TRANl. SOC. ARTS, 1802. 

THIS apparatus consists of a gouge and augur for 
boring a hole into the wood to receive the powder. An 
iron or steel rending or blasting screw, which is made 
use of instead of a plug or stemming to confine the pow- 
der. The handle of this screw should be divided into 
two forks or prongs in such manner as to admit a lever 
for the purpose of winding it into the wood. The dimen- 
sions of the screw should be such that it may not too 
easily be wrought into the hole, previously made by the 
augur. Through the center of the screw is a small hole, 
to which a priming wire is fitted for the purpose of occa- 
sionally clearing the hole, and introducing a quick match. 
This hole should be as small as is convenient to prevent 
the escape of the ignited pow^der. The match may be 
made of cotton or twine thread, steeped in a solution of 
saltpetre. A straw, however, filled with powder, in the 
manner in which the miners use it answers very well. A 
leather thong may be attached to the lever, in order to 
fasten it, occasionally, to the screw to prevent the loss of 
the latter, in case it should be thrown out when the log is 
burst open ; a circumstance which, the inventor says 
does not often occur, as when the wood was sound he has 
always found the screw left fixed in one side of the di- 
vided mass. Should this not be thought a sufficient secu- 



14 MACHINE rOR ROOTING UP THE STUMPS OF TREES. 

rity for the screw it may be fastened by a chain or rope 
to any heavy or fixed object. 

REMARK BY T. G. F. 

The effect of the powder would be greatly increased 
by leaving a considerable space between the screw and 
the charge as is apparent from the preceding article. 



MACHINE FOR ROOTING UP THE STUMPS 

OF TREES. 

BY CITIZEN SAINT VICTOR, MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF 
AGRICULTURE FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF THE SEINE.* 

THE machine contrived by citizen Victor, for the 
purpose of eradicating stumps of trees, consists of a box 
of forged iron, about two feet eight inches long, one inch 
thick towards the handle, and two inches towards the 
breech or platform. 

The platform is circular and fourteen inches in di- 
ameter. 

This platform serves as the base of the chamber, or 
furnace of the mine, which is three inches in diameter, 
and three inches eight lines in the length of its bore. 

The stopper or tompion which serves as a plug to the 
mine is of the same diameter, to enter within after a 
slight paper or wadding. It is attached by a chain to the 
gun or mortar, which last is eight is eight inches in dia- 
meter. About two inches above is added a small touch- 
hole or pan. The hole is directed in an angle of forty-five 
degrees, and is primed with powder to communicate 
with the charge with which the chamber is filled up to 
the stopper. 

This engine may be cast even with more facility in 
brass or bronze, and in this case, it must be a little thicker 
in all its dimensions, in order to afford a resistance equal 
to that of forged iron. 



• Bibliotheque Phys. Econoimque, de Sonini, No. 1. See likc'^'is^ 
Kich. Jour. April 1803. 



lyiACHINE FOE ROOTING UP STUMPS OP TREES, la 
USE OF TH£ MACHINE. 

When the machine is charged with powder, a small 
excavation is made with a pick-axe, beneath the centre 
of the stump. The machine is then placed in it, so that 
the plug immediately touches the wood. Care must be 
taken to fill all the vacancies, either with stones, or pieces 
of wood, more especially beneath the platform of the ma- 
chine, in order that the explosion of the powder may 
have its full effect on the stump, of which if necessary 
the principal roots should be cut, if any appear on the 
surface of the ground near the stump, that is to be 
eradicated. 

When the machine is firmly fixed to its place, the 
priming is put to the pan, a slow match applied, the 
length of which is sufficient to allow time to retire a pro- 
per distance from the explosion. 



PATENT FOR TANNING LEATHER. 

THE SUBSTANCE OF A SPECIFICATION OF A PATENT GRANT* 
ED TO ANTHONY FAY, FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ART O^ 
TANNING LEATHER. REPERTORY OP ARTS, VOL. IV. 

THE bark should be ground in the usual way, al- 
lowing two or three gallons of water (the exact quantity 
not being material) for every pound of bark, and the de- 
coction repeated,till the substance becomes tasteless. This 
extract, by mixing with water may be reduced, and thus 
a great saving made in the carriage. The extract, or 
ooze, will render the ofFalof the pelts, hitherto of little va- 
lue, almost as good as any part of the pelt, and will give 
the leather a compactness, grain, strength and additional 
weight, superiour to the methods now in use, and on that 
account is peculiarly useful in tanning horse and seal- 
skins, and all other pelts of a loose and spongy nature. 
Besides, in proportion to the strength of the ooze made 
from the above extract, it will accelerate the tanning of 
leather, doing it in less than one half the time hitherto 
lised, and with less than half the quantity of bark hitherto 
spent in the operation ; as in the common way a consi- 
derable proportion of the qualities essential for tannings 



10 PATENT FOR TANNING LEATHER. 

leather remain unspent in the refuse of bark, common- 
ly called dry tan, but it must be observed that such 
oozes must be used perfectly cold. 

With respect to the construction of the tan-yards, this 
patentee advises that they should be covered, and a 
crane placed in the centre of the building, whose jib or 
arm should be long enough to extend round the whole 
area of the building. The standard of the crane should 
have an axis at its lower extremity, and another a few 
incites above that part of the jib which is inserted in the 
standard, so as to make a revolution round its own axis. 
The block through which the pully passes should have 
a brass sheeve, which should have one or more friction 
wheels or castors, placed between the centre and the 
axis on which it turns. The block containing the above 
sheeve should be so made as to pass freely backwards 
and forwards on castors along the jib or arm of the 
crane, from one extremity to the other, and two small 
brass pulleys, one at each extremity of the jib, and a 
small cord fastened to the block, passing through these pul- 
leys, will move the block at pleasure. A wheel or wheels 
near the lower part of the crane's standard should be 
placed in the common method. In very extensive yards 
more cranes may be erected. 

The patentee recommends making the pits circular, 
and placing a wheel in each, of the following form : Sup- 
pose the two wheels of a carriage, with their axis were 
placed horizontally in the pit, the lower extremity of the 
axis of such length as to keep the sweep of the lower 
wheel six inches from the bottom of the pit. A fan of 
twigs, equal in length to the semi-diameter or spoke of 
the wheel should be fastened to one of the lowest semi- 
diameters, so as to sweep the bottom of the pit at every 
revolution of the wheel. The diameter of this wheel 
should be eight inches shorter than that of the pit, 
so that the circumference of the wheel should be 
four inches within the inner circumference of the pit. 
The pelts should be placed on the semi-diameters or 
spokes of the wheel, either longitudinally or cross-way, 
the spoke passing under the middle of the pelt, and so 
on round the wheel, fastening the lower part of the pelts 
thus placed, answering in situation to the upper spokes, 
so that there may be little, if any contact. The upper 
circumference of the wheel should be furnished with 
cogs, answering to the cogs of a small pinion wheel 
placed on the side of the pit, which may be turned by a 



PATENT FOR TANNING LEATHER. 17 

winch, so as to move the wheel in the pit ; or it may be 
set in motion by a screw placed vertically on the side of 
the pit, making the cogs bevil so as to suit the hollow of 
the Strew. The depth and diameter of the pit need not 
be defined, as every tanner will make them to suit his 
own convenience. The wheel should be so placed on its 
axis as to suit the diameter of the pit. There should 
be fixed at the upper extremity of the axis of the wheel 
a strong iron ring, which being hooked by the crane, will 
raise and lower the wheel and its contents. By these 
means the ooze may be put in motion as often as th.e 
tanner pleases, which will much accelerate the process. 

The circular pits and wheels should be placed in cir- 
cular lines around the corner and not sunken in the earth, 
but elevated some feet above its surface, and so placed 
like the seats of galleries, one above the other, that they 
may be discharged into each other by a syphon ,• and 
each pit should be furnished with a cock at the bottom, 
to draw oflf the ooze. 

The covering of the tanyardwill prevent the weaken- 
ing of the ooze by rain, snow, &c. and it will be found bet- 
ter to have the pits close covered. In the pits hitherto 
used, it will be found a great advantage to frame the pelts, 
so that the leather may appear as the canvas does 
in a window blind ; and place them so as to touch 
each other as little as possible, whether placed hori- 
zontally, vertically, or obliquely. These may be rais- 
ed or lowered by the crane as above described. — 
As no bark or dry tan will be brought into tanyards of 
this construction, much room will be saved. The caput 
mortuum^ or wood, which remains after the essence is 
extracted from the bark, will be more than sufficient, as 
fuel, for making the decoction. 

In addition to the above, it may be well to mention 
the method employed by a Mr. Marton (the specifica- 
tion of whose patent for improvement in the art of tan- 
ning, maybe found in the Repertory of Arts, Vol. II.) 
for preparing the skins for the process of tanning. 

Mr. Martin places a boiler of convenient size near a re- 
servoir of water, with a pipe near the edge of the boiler, 
to convey the warm water into a tub or vat, placed rather 
higher than the vats in which it is intended to place the 
raw goods and those working out of the lime, so that the 
first may empty itself into the second and third vats.— 
These vats have false bottoms for drawing off the sede- 

D 



13 ORSERVATIONS ON THE WEATHER. 

ment. The first vat is not intended for goods, but 
merely for regulating the warmth of the water. 

The application of warm water will purify the hides 
and revive those that have become dry, and expedite 
the process of tanning by expanding the pores for the 
reception of the ooze, Sec. They may, however, be pre-^ 
yiously washed in cold water, for the purpose of clean- 
ing them from the external biood and filth. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE WEATHER. 

pENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE CAUSES WHICH INFLUENCE 
THE WEATHER IN ENGLAND, AND THE POPULAR METHODS 
OF JaDGING OF THE WEATHER. BY JAMES COOPER, ESQ. 

THE remarks contained in the abovementioned 
tract, although particularly adapted to the climate and 
local situation of Great Britain, will not be found to be 
without their use in America, Indeed most of the ob- 
servations contained in the following abstract are appli- 
cable to almost any part of the world ; and a knowledge 
of those meteorological phenomona which may be pecu- 
liar to Great Britain, will be servicable to the iVmerican 
philosopher, by enlarging his acquaintance with the ge- 
neral Jaws of nature, and supplying him with facts from 
which by analogy may be drawn useful and pertinent in- 
ferences. 

Our author commences his observations by remark- 
ing on the great utility of philosophical instruments in 
forming a judgment of the weather. The barometer, 
the thermometer, the hydrometer and the electrometer, 
will generally give us timely notice of any material alter- 
ation in the atmosphere. But besides employing these 
instruments, he recommends attention to the common 
remarks of the peasantry, and those whose occupation 
requires them to live much in the open air : Such as a 
rainbow in the morning is the shepherd's Avarning ; but 
a rainbow at night is the shepherd's delight. 

This prognostick is explained by showing that the 
clouds to the westward are saturated with moisture, and 
if the wind is from that quarter they will probably pro» 
4uce rain. But when the sun sets elear, and the cloiads 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE \VEATHER, 19 

fo the eastward are moist, it proves that the wet clouds 
have past, with a westerly wind, and fair weather will be 
the consequence. 

The weather generally clears either at noon or at sun 
set. The sun, when advancing to the meridian, dries 
and clears the air, and consequently the rain is like to 
cease at that turn. But if there should be so much wa- 
ter in solution in the atmosphere, that the heat of the sun 
is insufficient to produce that effect, the rain will proba- 
bly continue several hours longer. 

Violent winds generally abate towards sunset. Wind 
is a current of air put in motion by the rarefaction of the 
atmosphere in some particular place. As the sun de- 
clines the rarefaction diminishes. This observation ap- 
plies rather to the temperate than the torrid zone, and 
in whirlwinds and tornadoes the contrary may be the 
case. 

When the wind follows the sun it is generally attend- 
ed with fair weather. Such wind is rarely more than 
a moderate breeze, and shows that no point of extraor- 
dinary rarefaction is near. This always happens in sum- 
mer, but seldom when the sun's meridian altitude is les^ 
than 40 degrees. 

A storm generally succeeds a calm. During a calm 
the air becomes rarefied and expanded by the heat of* 
the sun, and the cold air rushes forward to supply the 
equilibrium. 

For this reason the barometer falls suddenly, while the 
air is expanded before the gale of wind, and gradually 
rises as the condensed air flows in. 

Showers are in summer however, sometimes denoted 
by an extraordinary fall of the barometer. But in spring 
and autumn such fall indicates principally violent wind. 

On these principles we may account for the rise and 
fall of the barometer in different zones* In the torrid 
zone, particularly at St. Helena, and the islands of the 
Pacifick Ocean, it seldom varies more than three tenths j 
4t Madras, about five tenths ; in the south of Europe, 
one inch and two tenths ; in England, two inches and a 
half, and in Petersburgh, three inches and four tenths. 
In the two first, the temperature of the atmosphere is not 
subject to much variation for condensation. In the other 
places the atmosphere may be sometimes suddenly con- 
densed by currents of cold air from the north ; the 
greatest change taking place on the continent, where, in 
the summer, the weather is as hot as within the tropicks) 



20 OBSERVATIONS ON THE WEATHER* 

and in the winter, the thermometer for many weeks is 
below the freezing point. 

The words engraven on the barometer serve father to 
mislead than inform ; for the changes of weather depend 
rather on the rising and falling of the barometer, than on 
its remaining at any particular height. When the mer- 
cury is at fair, or at 30 degrees, and the surface is con- 
cave, beginning to descend, it often rains ; on the con- 
trary, when the mercury is at 29 degrees, opposite to 
rain, when the surface is convex, beginning to rise, fair 
Weather mav be expected. The want of attention to 
these circumstances is the principal cause why farmers 
have not sufficient confidence in this instrument. 

Besides, cccteris paribus^ the mercury is higher in cold 
than in warm weather, and commonly early in the morn- 
ing or late in the evening than at noon, the atmosphere 
being condensed by the cold of the night, and rarefied by 
the heat of the day. 

The following observations, by Mr. Patrick, seem 
confirmed by experience : 

1. The rising of the mercury presages, in general, 
fair weather, and its falling, foul weather, as rain, snow, 
high winds and storms. 

2. In very hot weather, the fall of the mercury indi- 
cates thunder. 

3. In winter, the rising presages frost ; and in frosty 
weather, if the mercury falls three or four divisions, 
there v/ill certainly follow a thaw ; but in a continued 
frost, if the mercury rise, it will certainly snow. 

4. When foul weather happens soon after the falling of 
the mercury, expect but little of it; and on the contrary, 
expect but little fair weather, when it proves fair shortly 
after the mercury has risen. 

5. In foul weather, when the mercury rises much and 
high, and so continues for two or three days before the 
foul weather is quite over, then expect a continuance of 
fair weather to follow. 

6. In fair weather, when the mercury falls much and 
low, and thus continues for two or three days before the 
rain comes, then expect a great deal of rain, and probably 
high winds. 

7. The unsettled motion of the mercury denotes un- 
certain and changeable weather. 

But to these remarks may be added, that when the ba»^ 
rometer falls suddenly two or three tenths, without any 
material alteration in the thermometer, and the hygrorae- 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE WEATHER. 2"! 

ter is not much turned towards moist, a violent gale of 
wind may be expected. When the hygrometer inclines 
far towards moist, with only a trifling descent in the ba- 
rometer, it denotes a passing shower and a little wind , 
and when the barometer falls considerably, and the hy- 
grometer turns much towards moist, the thermometer 
remaining stationary, and rather inclined to rise than 
fall, both violent wind and rain are likely to follow in 
the course of a few hours. 

GENERAL OR COMMON PROGNOSTICKS OF THE WEATHER. 

Among these we may reckon such as are derived from 
birds, beasts, insects, reptiles and plants, to which might 
be added great part of the wood-work in houses, as 
doors, windows, window-shutters, &c. 

Birds m general retain in the quill-part of their fea- 
thers a quantity of oil, which, when they feel an extraor- 
dinary degree of moisture in the atmosphere, they ex- 
press by means of their bills, and distribute it over their 
feathers, to secure their bodies against the effects of an 
approaching shower. 

Swallows in pursuit of flies and insects, on which they 
prey, sweep near the earth in wet weather ; and in dry 
weather, from the same cause, they fly much higher. 

Domestick animals, as cows and sheep, but particularly 
the latter, on the approach of rain, feed with great avidi- 
ty in the open field, and retire near the folds and hedges 
as soon as they are satisfied. In fine weather, they graze 
and lounge about, eating and resting with apparent in- 
diff'erence. 

The pimpernel, commonly called peep-a-day, or shep- 
herd's weather glass, closes its leaves before rain ; and 
the dandelion is much affected by moisture. 

All wood, even the hardest and most solid, swells in 
moist weather. The vapours insinuate themselves into 
trees, and also into the wood-work of houses. 

Insects and reptiles of all kinds seek or avoid rain, ac- 
cording to their respective habits, by these means giving 
notice of every change of the weather. 

It is a well known fact, that before rain, particularly in 
summer, a strong smell is perceived from drains and 
common sewers, as well as from every other body emit- 
ting a great quantity of effluvia. During fair weather, 
even in the summer, the atmosphere readily absorbs all 
the vapours and exhalations from the earth, until it is 



•22 METHOD OF EXTINGt7IS]ftlNG TIRE* 

completely saturated, and consequently the effluvia from 
the bodies which emit them will then be confined, and 
ascend in a small compass, like the smoke of a chimney in 
dry weather, almost perpendicularly ; but when the air 
is saturated with moisture, and becomes rarefied and ex- 
panded, as it always does before rain, the volume of air, 
containing the effluvia, will be extended horizontally, 
and diverge from their different bodies as from a centre, 
and will be sensibly perceived on all sides, but will, of 
course, be most perceptible on that to which the current 
of air or wind moves. 



METHOD OF EXTINGUISHING FIRE. 

EXTRACTED FROM A LETTER FROM M. VAN MARUM TO MR. 
BERTHOLLET. NICH. JOUR. VOL. V. P. 103. 

*' I TOOK two casks, which had been full of pitch,- 
and of which the inside was yet well covered with that 
inflammable substance ; the heads of these were taken 
out, and in order to assist the operation of combustion, 
I gave them a conical shape, placing the larger aperture 
of twenty inches diameter uppermost, the other of six- 
teen inches diameter below, mounted on a three legged 
stand, a few inches from the ground, so that the fire 
might be kept as brisk as possible by the free current of 
air passing through the cask. I covered the inside of 
each cask v^ith a fresh coat of pitch, and having placed 
shavings of wood in each, I lighted them, one after the 
other I began to extinguish this fire when it was at its 
height. For this purpose I made use of an iron ladle 
capable of holding two ounces of water, and provided 
with a very long handle, being kept at the distance of 
four or five feet by the volume of the fire. I carefully 
poured the water from this ladle in very small streams 
along the inside of the cask, placing the ladle on the edgie 
of the cask, and moving it gradually along the edge as 
the flames ceased. In this way the first ladleful of water 
extinguished nearly one half of the fire, and v/hat re- 
mained was effectually put out by a ladiefuU and in the 
same manner. The striking success of this experiment 
induced me to repeat it in the presence of many persons, 



METHOD OF EXTINGUISHING FJRE. 23 

ajid with care and attention in the application and ma- 
nagement of water, I have more than once succeeded in 
extinguishing a highly ignited cask with a single ladle- 
full, of two ounces, of water." 

Mr. Van Marum in explaining the theory which is 
developed by this experiment says that, " when a small 
quantity of water is thrown upon a highly ignited body, 
part of that water is instantly converted into steam, 
which rising from the surface of the burning body, pre* 
vents the contact of the atmospherick air, and by that 
means puts out the flame, which cannot appear again 
while the production of the steam is continued." 

*' According to these experiments," he continues, " it 
appears that the art of extinguishing a riolent fire with 
a small quantity of water consists in this : that the water 
be thrown on that part of the fire which is the most vio- 
lent ; so that the quantity of steam, produced, which sup- 
presses the flame may be the greatest possible : that wa- 
ter be continued to be thrown in the neighbouring in- 
flamed parts, as soon as the fire has ceased in that in 
which the operation was begun, and that all the burning 
parts be visited in this way as soon as possible. By thus 
following the flames regularly with streams of water, 
they may be every where suppressed before the part on 
which the operation was begun shall have entirely lost, by 
evaporation, the water with which it was moistened ; this 
is often necessary to prevent the parts from breaking out 
afresh ; for on the principles above mentioned, a burning 
body of which the flames are suppressed cannot be again 
in flames until the water thrown on it be totally eva- 
porated." 

Mr. Van Marum then relates experiments made on a 
larger scale, one of which we will transcribe from the 
account given of it by Von Zach a celebrated German 
astronomer. 

Doctor Van Marum being at Gotha, in the course of 
a literary journey, which he was making in Germany in 
1793, the duke of Gotha well known as an amateur of 
the physical and mathematical sciences, signified his de- 
sire to see on a large scale, that experiment of extin- 
guishing fires, the effect of which M. Van Marum had 
shown him, in extinguishing a pitched cask, set on fire, 
with a small ladle of water. He caused a building to be 
constructed under M. Van Marum's direction, in the 
dutchess's garden, of equal dimensions in all respects 
with that used for the same experimejit at Harlaem, 



METHOD OF EXTINGUISHING IIRK. 24- 

which was 24 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 14 feet high. 
It had two doors on the north east side, and two win- 
dow-like openings on the north-west side ; the top was 
left entirely open to give the flames free vent ; the inside 
of this receptacle was plastered with pitch, and after- 
wards covered with straw mats, on which melted pitch 
had been poured. To the bottom of these mats cotton 
wicks, soaked in spirits of turpentine, were suspended, 
that so the building might be every where on fire at the 
same time. In this state the fire excited by the wind, 
was soon so violent, that the flames with thick clouds of 
smoke, were carried several feet above the opening of 
the roof, and so fiercely, that the spectators assembled 
about the building quickly drew back; many were of 
opinion that it would not be possible to extinguish it, but 
that the building must be reduced to ashes. When the 
straw mats were intirely consumed, the interiour wood 
work of the building was soon on fire in every part. 
The most unfavourable circumstances attended this ex- 
periment ; for the wind drove the flames directly through 
the doors on the north-east side, by which it had been 
intended to introduce the streams of water to extinguish 
them : but notwithstanding this, Mr. Van Marum pla- 
ced a small portable pump or engine before the door in 
that part of the north east side of the building nearest 
to the south east side; without regarding the apprehen- 
sions of his assistants, he set it in action, and placing 
himself before this door, as near as the intense heat of 
the fire would admit, he directed the streams of water 
first towards the south east side, and as near the door as 
possible, and continued until the flames were extinguished 
on the side, and sprinkled with water in the same direc- 
tion ; after which the water was directed along the 
south west side and afterwards the north east, so that 
in a few minutes the flames were got under, and the 
burning partitions were extinguished. After this the 
pump was placed before one of the openings in the north 
west side. He also very soon extinguished the north 
west side ; and lastly coming to the centre of the build- 
ing, where the fire appeared here and there in the chinks 
of the boards and the holes left by the nails, breaking 
out at intervals in small flashes, he entirely extinguished 
them and thus perfectly subdued this violent fire. It 
was estimated by several of the spectators, that the fire 
was extinguished at most in three minutes from the 
commencement of the rxtion of the pumps to the time 



METHOD OF EXTINGUISHING FIRE. 25 

when the wood just remained burning, and broke out 
afresh in some places ; these renewals were however so 
inconsiderable, that the burning parts were quenched by- 
means of some wet rags fastened to a stick. Before set- 
ting the pump to work, its reservoir was filled with four 
buckets of water ; but in carrying it to the first window 
of the building, and from thence to the middle of it, near 
a bucket full was spilt ; so that it may be positively af- 
firmed, that this violent fire was extinguished with three 
buckets of water excluding that which was afterwards 
used to quench those parts of the building which re- 
mained red. It was easily observed, when the flame 
was out, that not only the straw mats were burned, 
but the entire wood work of the building had been on 
fire, insomuch that the smallest part of wood could not 
be found in the inside of the building which had not been 
more or less severely burnt. The north-east side in 
particular, against which the wind drove the flames with 
the utmost violence was entirely charred." 

Mr. Van Zach further states that the flames and smoke 
rendered access to the building with the pump very 
difficult. — That nothing but the courageous example of 
M. Van Marum himself, in leading his assistants, and 
directing the operations of the pump could have pre- 
vailed on them to have faced the danger, which they 
considered as very dreadful. 

Mr. Van Zach continues, " the result of the foregoing 
fact is, that in applying the method of extinguishing fire, 
the circumstances to be observed are these, that to ex- 
tinguish the most violent fire, it is only necessary to 
wet the surface of the burning matter in the part where 
the flames are seen, and that for this purpose only a 
small quantity of water is needful, if the parts be wetted 
in the proper manner. In operations of this kind, 
therefore, particular attention must be paid to throwing 
the water in such a way, that the entire surface of the 
burning part shall be wetted and extinguished, and that 
in such a way that an extinguished part shall never be 
left between two others which are in flames ; for if at- 
tention be not paid to this, the heat of the flames burn- 
ing here and there will quickly change the water with 
which the part has been wetted into steam, and the whole 
will again take fire. In order then, to extinguish a fire 
in all cases, no more water need be thrown on the burn- 
ing part than is needful to wet its surface ; and this I 



26 METHOD OF EXTINGUISHING FIRE. 

conceive to be all that is requisite to extinguish a fire^^ 
whatever may be the circumstances of its origin." 

REMARKS BY T. G. F. 

I have frequently taken notice of what appeared to 
me to be a bad mode of conducting the engines, in cases 
of fire in London, New York, and Philadelphia. The 
water is generally thrown into the air, so as to be con- 
verted into steam, or very small drops, and thus but a 
small portion of it, reaches the burning part, the source 
or fountain of flame. Steam, or even small drops of 
water, has a tendency to increase a violent fire. Per- 
haps this is occasioned by the conversion of the latent 
heat which water contains into sensible heat, or in some 
cases by the reduction of the water to its component 
parts, hydrogen and oxygen; the former of which is a 
highly inflammable substance, and the latter the sup- 
porter of combustion. Thus a shower of rain is said 
to increase the rage of a volcano, and a few drops of water 
accidentally percolating into the midst of a furnace, 
when in blast, has caused most violent explosions. 

That water, when converted into steam, has a capacity 
of increasing flame, would appear from the operation of 
the hydraulick bellows, invented by Mr. Hornblower, and 
described in Nicholson's Journal, for March, 1802. In 
this machine, the air which gives the blast, is forced 
through water, and the inventor says that there existed 
a striking difference between the effect of this bellows 
and a common leathered 30 inch bellows in the same 
shop. The leathered bellows threw considerably more air 
into the fire, and its nozzle, compared to the hydraulick 
bellows, was as 73 to 60 in diameter, but it did not pro* 
duce so great an effect in bringing on the heat^ and the 
voice of the former was so great as to almost drown that 
of the common one. 

Neither Mr. Nicholson, nor his correspondent, Mr. 
Hornblower, attempts to explain the cause of this pheno- 
menon. But may we not conjecture that the air, from 
the hydraulick bellows, being forced through a body of 
%vater, contained a portion of it in solution, or in the form 
of steam, and that the heat of the water thus held in so- 
lution was converted into sensible heat, in the forge, 
and thus became a species of fuel, as well as an assistant 
br stimulus to the combustion. 



METHOD OF EXTINGtJISHiNG FIRE. 27 

>. 

This hypothesis is corroborated by a fact stated in the 
Philosophical Journal, No. 45. By this it appears that 
the steam of an engine, after work-, was thrown into a 
chimney ; that it had the effect to render the smoke in- 
visible, and became itself immediately so transparent as 
not to be distinguished. When the smoke was shut off, 
the steam became visible, and when the steam was shut 
off the smoke became visible. But what perhaps ap- 
plies to our hypothesis, the draught of the chimney 
"was found to be increased by the admission of the steam 
into the flue. 

This increase of the draught of the chimney was 
doubtless the consequence of an increase of heat, occa-* 
sioned by what I will venture to call the combustion of 
the steam** 

If these premises are correct, it would appear that wa- 
ter in small drops, like dew, or in the form of mist or 
steam, increases the effect of a strong fire, from the same 
principles that a shower increases the flame of a volcano ; 
and that in extinguishing a fire, it ought to be applied 
directly to the surface of theburningpart, and not impel- 
led or dropped through such a column of flame or calorick 
as to be converted into steam, and in that state rather ex- 
cite than extinguish the cumbustion. 



PROCESS FOR WATERING HEMP. 

PROCESS FOR WATERING HEMP, IN TWO HOURS, BY K. 
BllALLE, BIB. PHYJJ. ECON. 

GREEN soap (savonverd) 67 grams (12 oz.) is'to be 
added to 110 kilograms (220lb.) water, boiling hot ;Iwhen 
the soap is dissolved, 11 kilograms (22 lb.) of hemp are 
to be immersed, so as to be entirely covered by the li- 
quor, the vessel closed, the fire put out, and the hemp 
left to macerate for two hours : a smaller portion of soap 
may do, but the above was the proportion used by M. 



* Might not the steam of an engine, after having performed its office 
in giving motion to the piston, be brcntght into the furnivce, and thn.^ 
increase the heat. 



28 PROCESS rOR WATERING HEMP. 

Bralle, in his publick experiment : for a complete steep- 
ing it may be as 1 to 48 of the hemp, and 650 water. 

Several steepings may be made in succession, care 
being taken to add soap each time, to replace what has 
been absorbed, and to heat the water to the former tem- 
perature. The same water may be employed for fifteen 
days continually. 

When the bundles of hemp are taken out, they are co- 
vered with straw, that they may cool gradually, without 
losing their humidity. Next day they are to be spread 
on a floor, the bands shifted, and a heavy roller passed 
over them , after which the hemp separates easily from 
the reed, by beating. The hemp thus separated, is 
spread on the grass, and turned, and after five days re- 
moved to the warehouse. In steeping the hemp, the 
bundles should be kept in a vertical position, as the ope- 
ration is found to succeed better so than when they are 
horizontal. 

The advantages of this method are, 1st, The superiour 
speed of the process to that in common use ; 2nd, Its 
being practicable at all seasons ; 3d, Its not being inju- 
rious to health, or producing any bad smell; 4th, A sav- 
ing of expense, when a proper apparatus is used ; 5th, 
A superiour quality of the hemp so prepared, and less 
waste produced, so that nearly a fourth more hemp is 
obtained from the same ravr materials ; 6th, The extend- 
ing the culture of hemp to ail situations, which can now 
be carried on only in the vicinity of running water. 

A verv good apparatus, for the process, is formed by 
a boiler, and wooden tubs, with covers for steeping 
vessels. 

REMARKS BY T. G. F. 

A process in some measure similar to the above de- 
scribed, would, probably, save the trouble and expense of 
water-rotting flax. Lie made of wood-ashes would, 
perhaps, answer the purpose of water impregnated with 
soap, as mentioned above. Flax, as well as hemp, ma- 
cerated in this wav, would be likely to exhibit a firmer fi- 
bre than that which is prepared in the usual manner, and 
might, we believe, be allowed to stand longer in the field, 
for the purpose of obtaining the seed. The flax may be 
macerated in tubs, or half-hogsheads, heated by steam, 
introduced by a metal pipe, from a covered kettle, or 
boiler, in the manner mentioned by Count Rumford. 



PURIFICATION OF FISH-OIL. 29 



PURIFICATION OF FISH-OIL, 

EXTRACTED FROM A COMMUNICATION TO THE SOCIETY OF 
ARTS, AND PUBLISHED IN NICHOLSON's JOURNAL, VOL. 
V. p. 5. 

PROCESS THE FIRST. 

FOR purifying fish-oil, in a moderate degree, and at 
a very little expense. 

Take an ounce of chalk in powder, and half an ounce 
of lime, slacked by exposure to the air ; put them into a 
gallon of Stinking oil, and having mixed them well toge- 
ther by stirring, add half a pint of water, and mix that 
also with them by the same means. When they have 
stood an hour or two, repeat the stirring, and continue 
the same treatment at different intervals for two or three 
days ; after which superadd a pint and a half of water, in 
which an ounce of salt had been dissolved, and mix 
them as the other ingredients, repeating the stirring as 
before for a day or two. Let the whole stand at rest, 
and the water will sink below the oil, and the chalk sub- 
side in it to the bottom of the vessel. The oil will 
become clear, be of a lighter colour, and have consi- 
derably less smell, but will not be purified in a manner 
equal to what is effected by the other processes below 
given ; though as this is done at the expense of only one 
ounce of salt, it may be practised advantageously for 
many purposes, especially as a preparation for the next 
method, the operation will be thereby facilitated. 

PROCESS THE SECOND. 

To purify to a great degree, fish-oil without heat* 
Take a gallon of crude stinking oil, or rather such 
as has been prepared as abovementioned, and add to it 
an ounce of powdered chalk ; stir them well together 
several times, as in the preceding process ; and after 
they have been mixed some hours or a whole day, add 
an ounce of pearl ashes, dissolved in four ounces of 
water, and repeat the stirring as before. After they 
have been so treated for some hours, put in a pint of 
water in which two ounces of salt are dissolved, and 
proceed as before : the oil and brine will separate on. 
standing some days, and the oil will be greatly improved 



0?^ PURIFICATION OF FISH OIL, 

both in smell and colour. Where a greater purity as- 
required, the quantity of pearl ashes must be increased, 
and the time before the addition of the salt and water 
prolonged. 

If the same operation is repeated several times, di- 
minishing each time the quantity of ingredients one half, 
the oil may be brought to a very light colour, and 
rendered equally sweet in smell with the common sper- 
macetti oil. By this process the cod-oil may be made 
to burn , and when it is so putrid as not to be fit for 
any use, either alone or mixed, it may be so corrected 
by the first part of the process, as to be equal to that 
commonly sold : but where this process is practised in 
the case of such putrid oil, use half an ounce of lime, 

PROCESS THE THIRD. 

To purify fish oil with the assistance of heat, where 
the greatest purity is required, and particularly for the 
woolen manufacture. 

Take a gallon of crude stinking oil, and mix it with a 
quarter of an ounce of powdered chalk, a quarter of an 
ounce of lime, slacked in the air, and half a pint of wa- 
ter ; stir them together ; and when they have stood 
some hours, add a pint of water and two ounces of pearl- 
ashes, and place them over a fire that will just keep them 
simmering, till the oil appears of a light amber colour, 
and has lost all smell except a hot greasy, soap-like 
scent. Then superadd half a pint of water, in which an 
ounce of salt has been dissolved j and having boiled 
them half an hour, pour them into a proper vessel, and 
let them stand till the seperation of the oil, water and 
lime be made, as in the preceding process. When this 
operation is performed to prepare oil for the woolen ma- 
nufacture the salt may be omitted ; but the separation of 
the lime from the oil will be slower, and a longer boiling 
will be necessary. 

If the oil be required to be yet more pure, treat it, 
after it is separated from the w^ater, &c. according to the 
second process with an ounce of chalk, a quarter of an 
ounce of pearl ashes and half an ounce of chalk. 

In his observations on these different processes the 
author apprises us that process the first will render oils 
more fit for burning, which are in that point faulty, and is 
of use merely when a moderate improvement is required. 
That when the oil is taken from the dregs and brine, the 



PURIFICATION OF TISH OIL. 51. 

dregs should likewise be taken off and put into another 
vessel of a deep form, fresh water added, and stirred 
with them, and nearly the whole of the remaining part 
of the oil will separate from the foulness ; or the dregs 
may be put to any future quantity of oil that is to be 
edulcorated by this method, which will answer the same 
purpose. 

Process the third he says is best for train oil, called 
vicious whale oil ; and the more putrid and foul, the 
greater the proportional improvement, especially if there 
be no mixture of the other kinds of fish-oils, particularly 
the seal, which do not admit of being edulcorated by 
heat. Oil thus purified will burn without leaving any 
remains of foulness, and being more fluid than before 
will go further when used in woolen manufacture, and be 
more easily severed from the wool. 

If a more thick oil be wanted a certain proportion of 
tallow or fat may be added, and kitchen stuff, which will 
dissolve in oil moderately heated. It may be necessary 
to vary the proportions of the ingredients, if the oil be 
very vicious, as the quantity above stated is the least 
that will be suitable. If in six or eight hours simmering 
the oil does not appear to be improving, a fourth or third 
part of the original quantity may be added. Fresh addi- 
tions of water must be made as the quantity is lessened 
by evaporation. If it be inconvenient to give the whole 
time of boiling at once, the fire may go out and be re- 
kindled at any distance of time, and a small proportion 
of pearl ashes dissolved in water being added and stir- 
red in between the time of boiling will facilitate the 
operation. 

PROCESS THE FOURTH. 

Which may be practised instead of process the first, 
as it will purify fish-oil to a considerable degree, and for 
process the third when the whole is performed. 

Take a gallon of crude fetid oil, and put to it a pint 
of water, poured from two ounces of lime slacked in the 
air; let them stand together, and stir them several times 
for the first twenty-four hours ; then let them stand a 
day, and the lime water will sink below the oil, which 
must be carefully separated from them. This oil if not 
sufficiently purified to be treated as in process the third, 
diminishing the quantity of pearl ashes to one ounce and 
omitting the lime and chalk. 



32 APPARATUS rOR PURIFYING INFECTED AIR. 

The dregs remaining after the sundry processes above 
mentioned, will form an excellent manure, as has been 
since noticed in Dr. Hunter's Georgical Essays. 



ACCOUNT OF AN APPARATUS 

yOR PURIFYING INFECTED AIR (wHiCH ACTS FOR SOME 
MONTHS WITH A SINGLE CHARGE.) BY M. GUYTON DE 
MORVEAU. ANN. DE CHIM. 

THIS apparatus is formed of a vessel of very thick 
glass, which holds about three half-pints ; the edge of 
the vessel, which is very thick, has a strong glass plate 
ground on it so as to fit it perfectly close. This vessel 
is fixed in a small frame, resembling a press, which has a 
screw in its upper part, which serves to elevate or de- 
press the plate of glass, so as to open or shut the appara- 
tus at pleasure. 

To produce the disinfecting gas, the vessel is taken 
from the press, and one ounce three drachms of black 
oxyd of manganese, in powder, after being sifted, put into 
it, together with a decilitre (the fifth of a pint) of pure 
nitrick acid, of the specifick gravity of 39 degrees of 
Baume's areometer, and the same quantity of marine 
acid, of 172 degrees: ^^^ vessel is then replaced in the 
press, and the glass plate screwed down tight, after 
carefully wiping all dirt from the edge of the vessel ; 
two thirds of the vessel must be left empty for the gas. 

When it is required to purify the air of any place j it 
is only necessary to turn the screw the rev^erse way a 
single round and leave the vessel open a minute or two 
according to the size of the place, till the odour of the 
gas is perceptible in every part of it ; after which the 
whole should be closed tight again. 

This apparatus, with a single charge of the above ma- 
terials may be used every day for six months, without re- 
newal ; and when its effect ceases, the vessel is to be 
emptied, rinsed clean, and filled again as before directed. 

In opening the vessel, care should be taken to keep it 
in an upright posture, to prevent spilling the materials 
enclosed : and to hold one's head a little from it, to avoid 



APPARATUS rOR PURIFYING INFECTED AlR, 33 

breathing the gas, which, though not dangerous, is a lit- 
tle disagreeable. 

This apparatus is very useful to purify the air in hos- 
pitals, prisons, sleeping-rooms, and work-shops, and, in 
fine, in every place where the air becomes vitiated, either 
from crowded meetings, or other causes. It is now in 
use in the different hospitals of Paris, in those of the de- 
partments and of the marine. 

This apparatus is made for sale, by M. Dumotiez, 
instram(-.nt-maker, Paris. He also prepares a smaller 
portable sort, contrived likewise by M. Morveau, which 
consists of a strong bottle (closed, as described in the 
former, by a strong plate of glass and a screw) the whole 
is enclosed in a case of box wood, which serves to keep 
the plate of glass in its place. The charge for this is 
four grammes (about one drachm) of manganese, and 
about a centilitre (the 50th part of a pint) of nitrick acid, 
and the same quantity of marine acid : from these pro- 
portions, it seems the bottle should hold about half a 
pint. V/hen the mixture becomes a little old, it should 
be shaken in the bottle, before unscrewing the stopper. 

M. Dumotiez prepares bottles of a still smaller size^ 
in the same manner, which he sells for three francs. 

The top of the case should have an opening to let the 
gas pass, besides being contrived to take off occasionally, 

OBSERVATIONS BY THE EDITORS OF THE RETROSPECT 
OF DISCOVERIES. 

This is a very convenient apparatus, worthy the atten- 
tion of all medical gentlemen. Besides the situations 
where it is of use, mentioned above, it would also be 
extremely serviceable in ships, and is so very handy, and 
may be afforded so cheap, that it is probable no captain 
would go on any distant voyage without one, if its utility 
were explained to him, in preventing infections of all 
sorts, not excepting that of the yellow fever. 

If the glass plate should be broken at sea, or else- 
where, where it cannot be easily renewed, a piece of 
caoutchouc, fastened under a cover of wood, would make 
a good substitute for it ; and it might be advisable to 
have a cover so prepared with every apparatus to use in 
case of accidents. 

The screw, and every other part of the apparatus, 
should be of wood ; as any thing of metal near it would 
be easily corroded by the gas. 

F 



34 ON THE CLAMFIGATTON OF WlNES AND fi2£R, 

Conceiving these fumigating bottles to be of great 
publick utility ; and that of course it would be very ser- 
viceable to have them as easily procured in this city as 
in Paris ; means have been taken to induce Mr. Lloyd, 
No. 178, Strand, to have them made for publick use, 
fully equal to those described in every respect. 



ON THE SUBSTANCES 

USKD FOR THE CLARIFICATION OF WINES AND BEER, AND THE 

MEANS OF INCREASING THE SUPPLY OF FISH GLUE. BY M. 

PARMENTIER. ANN. DE CHIM* 

M. PARMENTIER thinks that the whites of eggs 
afford the best substitute for clarification, and that the 
action of fish glue, for the same use is chiefly caused by 
the albumen contained in it. On account, however, of 
the great difficulty of procuring any numberj without 
some musty or otherwise ill-tasted being among them, 
and the unconquerable bad flavour which thjs gives to 
wine, he much recommends the general use of .fish glue 
for this purpose in preference. 

He mentions that the air bladders, intestines and skins 
of various other fishes besides the sturgeon, will produce 
good fish glue. 

The Laplanders procure it from the perch ; and all the 
genus of fishes known to naturalists by the appellation of 
cartilaginous, such as rays, sea dogs, &c. produce a glue 
very tenacious and in great abundance. 

All fishes likewise, which are little covered with 
scales, which live in still fresh water, or in bogs, little 
agitated by wind, or which lie in the mud, are very pro- 
per to furnish, from all their parts, a gelatine more or 
less pure, according to the care taken in its manufacture. 

The air-bladders of the cod-fish also produce good 
glue. In the north of Europe they make a great deal in 
this manner : they cut out the vesicles, with their liga- 
ments, divide them in two, and remove the first skin, 
with a notched knife, then lay them in lime water, and 
afterwards wash them in pure water, and dry them« 
This was attempted at Newfoundland, but was laid aside 
because they could not spare hands from fishing j and 



ON THE CLARIFICATION OF WINES AND BEER. 35 

they now salt the vesicles for food, and they are consi- 
dered as very wholesome and nutritive. Many other 
fishes of this species, as well as the cod, furnish materials 
for glue. 

The cuttle fish, the sea-blubber, and similar boneless 
fishes, with most animals of the mollusca genus furnish the 
very best gelatine that can be procured, if care be taken 
to prepare it in a proper manner. It is of similar sub- 
stances that a species of swallow forms those nests, which 
are in high estimation in China for making restorative 
soups. 

M. Parmentier thinks that on account of the less 
specifick gravity of fish glue, it is not so nourishing as 
the gelatine extracted from land animals, and also that it 
is not so tenacious as glue formed from the skin and bones 
of quadrupeds ; both of which notions are contrary to 
general opinion. 

M. Parmentier mentions, that in some breweries they 
boil all the cows and calves feet they can procure, to form 
gelatinous matter to clarify their beer, and that when 
these were scarce, they have been known to boil down 
an entire calf, in their coppers, after removing the fat ; 
and that cartilaginous fishes are also used for the same 
purpose. Serum of blood has likewise been used by 
them but they would seldom confess this, knowing the 
repugnance which most have for such matters. 

M. Parmentier examined the finings or clarifying mix- 
ture used by several brewers, by chymical tests ; from 
which it appeared that their basis was animal gelatine, 
precisely of the nature of Flanders glue, and had not the 
least resemblance to fish glue. 

He also mentions that very fine sand, well washed, 
mixed with the liquor, is a good clarifier, and has the ad- 
vantage of cheapness. 

Charcoal dust likewise, well washed, is found useful 
in fining liquors. 

He recounts another matter, not so advisable for liquor, 
which is metal in grains, particularly lead, but which is 
best for clarifying oils, and rendering them colourless. It 
is not merely by its weight that lead acts on oil, but by a 
chymical process ; for small shot put into a vessel of oil 
soon become oxydated at its surface and this oxyd at r- 
tracts the colouring matter of the liquor, which he sup- 
poses assists the union of the mucus to the oil ; for in 
proportion as the colouring matter is attracted by the 
oxyd, the mucus separates and falls to the bottom, by 



36 ON THE CLARIFICATION OF WINE AND BEER. 

which the oil becomes more fluid, almost colourless, 
does not congeal in cold weather, burns with brilliancy, 
and yields little smoke. 

M, Parmentier, in conjunction with M. Pelletier, 
also proved that, in many cases, the clear jelly, pro- 
cured by boiling raspings of bone in a small quantity 
of water, might be advantageously substituted for fish 
glue. 

The editors of the Retrospect of Arts, observe on 
this subject, as follows : 

M. Parmentier passes over the effect of charcoal 
dust, as a clarifier, more hastily than it seems to de- 
serve. From its known attraction for mucilaginous mat- 
ter, it promises to have great effect in clearing liquor, 
and perhaps it might be used to advantage after ge- 
latinous finings, to separate them more completely from 
the liquor. 

As a clarifier in the same class as fine sand, very 
pure pipe clay deserves notice. It separates, on resting, 
entirely from the liquor with which it is mixed, and 
draws down with it more extraneous matter than sand 
can ; which qualities make it worthy of sufficient trial. 

The recommendation of M. Parmentier to his coun- 
trymen, to procure fish glue from the animals found on 
their own coasts may with great propriety be extended 
to this country. Animals of soft substance (the more 
proper for this manufacture as they are never used 
for food) ai"e to be found on our coasts, in many 
places in abundance. Hundreds of the fish, often called 
sea blubber are frequently seen at no great distance 
from the coast of IVIilford ; and no doubt they, and 
others of the same kind, and of the sorts before 
mentioned, as proper for making fish glue, might be 
procured in many places in sufEcient quantity to pay 
well for the trouble of boiling them down into glue. 

OBSERVATION BY T. G. F. 

I think that my countrymen may derive many useful 
hints from this article. We have many species of fishes 
and other animals both on our coasts and in our inland 
waters, of little or no value for food ; which might 
probablv be converted into glue. The catfish, the 
lamprey, land turtle, and perhaps the Frog, &c, I re- 
collect to have seen It asserted in an English Philosophi- 
cal Journal, that a frog, having leaped by accident i;ito 



ON THE CLARIFICATION OF WINE AND BEER. 37 

a concentrated solution of potash freed from carbonick acid, 
which was converted in a short time to a flesh coloured 
gelatinous mass, which by boiling water was dissolved 
to jelly. The following article will furnish further in- 
formation on this subject. 

GLUE FROM VARIOUS MATERIALS, EXAMINED. 
ANN. DES ARTS, &C.^ 

M. Cadet has examined the nature of glue, prepared 
from the gelatine of beef, veal, mutton, fowl, fish, and 
from that of the horse ; also mixed glue, prepared from 
beef gelatine, the scrapings of hides, English glue, 
beef and veal mixed j and that from ox-feet and sinews. 
The specifick gravity of each was as follows in the ta- 
ble ; and 5760 grains of each, exposed twenty-four hours 
in a cool cellar after being dried in a stove, absorbed 
moisture in the proportions therein set down ; half an 
ounce of each glue, dissolved in water, was also saturated 
with tannin, and the number of grains of precipitate 
were weighed, and found to be as noted in the table ; 
in which, also, is marked the tenacity of each kind of 
glue, by the number of pounds and ounces which it took 
to detach two pieces of wood, of four square inches 
surface, glued together with each kind of glue, and 
placed in a stove twenty-four hours before trial. 

* This article is from the " Retrospect of Discoveries," 



o8 GLUE, mOM VARIOUS MATERIALS, EXAMINED. 





S^ 


t ; 1 






I.)-,).; 




O •> ;- 


O o 


'^ "^ 


Tena- 


Colour. 




O cl ■ 


'^ ■*-> 


a +j 










vT So 


< 


oi 


cit 


V. 








grs. 


grs. 


lb. 


oz. 




Glue of Veal . . . . 


1352 


198 


71 


110 


6 


C Transparent,like 
I horn. 

C Very transparent 
^ like barley sugar. 


Beef 


1229 


159 


4 


95 


6 














—Mutton . . . . . 


1344 


in 


50 


107 


6 


Clear, dull redish. 
r Almost opaque, 


Horse ...... 


1342 


173 


40 


66 


6 


< of a deep redish 
(^ brown. 


—Fish (of com- ^ 
merce) .... 5 
—Fish (in casks) 


120.9 
1231 


422 


56 


53 


6 


5 Like beefglue but 
^ more transpai'cnt 


Fowl 


1321 


1298 


36 


99 


6 


C Clear, of a dull 
I bistre. 


Beef 8c hide > 
















1315 


253 


_^ 


91 


6 




scrapings ... 5 














Beef & veal . . 


1350 


160 


— . 


79 


6 


















. y 


1351 


124 




■ 


__ 




sinews 3 














English glue 


1347 


144 


60 


121 


14 





Each of the above columns formed a separate table in 
the original ; but it was thought it would be more satis- 
factory to give the whole in one view, as here. 

The precipitates were each of different colour and 
form ; some were pulverulent, others filamentose, and 
others formed a magma. 

As the tenacity depends, in some degree, on the 
wood subjected to the action of the glue, to the liquidi- 
ty of the glue, its temperature, and the manner of 
application, the above comparison can only be considered 
as an approximation to an exact statement. 

The solutions of English glue, of mutton, and of 
veal, had more viscosity than those of the others, parti- 
cularly of the first in the following list, in which each is 
placed according to its degree of solubility in portions of 
boiling water : 



Beef glue 

Beef and veal mixed 

Horse glue 

Ox heel and sinews 



English glue 

Beef and hide scrapings 

Mutton 

Veal 



CJLtJFlj FROM VARIOUS MATlliRlALS, EXAMINED. ^9 

Of all the above, the English glue is the strongest ; 
that of veal the next, and its gelatine the best for medici- 
nal use. Beef glue is the least absorbent of moisture, and 
horse glue the weakest of all : mutton glue is next to 
that of veal in its qualities. 

Glue not only varies according to the animals whence 
it is prepared, but according to the different parts of the 
same animal : that made, for example, from the heels of 
beef, varies much from that made from other parts, as 
may be seen in the table. 

M. Cadet attributes the superiority of the English 
glue to the great care taken by the makers to put matters 
of the same nature in each boiling, and which are soluble 
in the same temperature, and furnish gelatine equally. 

The goodness of the glue depends on the freshness of 
the materials, the choice of them and their mixture ; 
the washing of them, and the method of boiling, re- 
quire, also much attention ; and, perhaps the action of 
the lime on the first materials, may greatly influence the 
quality. 

The construction of the furnaces is, also very im- 
portant in the manufacture of glue. Mr. C. visited 
several works, and saw none in which they were properly 
formed. 

OBSERVATIONS, BY THE EDITORS OF THE RETROSPECT 
or DISCOVERIES. 

M. Cadet very properly conjectures, that lime is 
an important article in the preparation of glue. In some 
small experiments made, of preparing glue from differ- 
ent substances, all that had not been limed, absorbed the 
moisture of the air so much, that they speedily became 
flexible ; from this it is probable, that the liming adds to 
the strength of the glue ; for it is evident, that any which 
absorbs moisture, must speedily lose its connecting pow- 
er. There is reason to think some glue-boilers use alum 
for the same purpose ; as, in some account of the pro- 
cess lately published, with a different view than explain- 
ing the manufacture, it is directed to use a pound of alum 
for every hundred weight of the materials. 

Sea salt, even in small quantities, increases much the 
attraction of glue for damp : some materials, which can- 
not be got to harden permanently, it is suspected, owe this 
defect to the salt contained in them : indeed all animal 
substances contain some portions of it ; perhaps the alum 
may tend to decompose the sea-salt, and form in its place 
sulphate of soda, which is the most drying of all salts. 



40 ON THE CLARIFICATION OF WINE AND BfifiR. 

Glue is an important manufacture, both on account 
of its extensive use in various arts, and the quantity ex- 
ported. 

The materials for it are becoming every day more 
scarce and dear ; which makes it an object of conse- 
quence, to seek for others besides those in common use : 
in the paper on the clarification of Liquors, some of those 
will be found mentioned, which might be applied to the 
general manufacture, as well as to the particular article of 
fish-glue. A great supply of excellent materials might 
be obtained from the whale fishery, and that of the other 
different sea animals which yield oil. A great part of 
the lower extremity of all those fishes consists of sinews 
which would make good glue, together with their fins 
and tails. Mr. Raines, of Hull, obtained a patent in 
November, 1804, for making glue from the tail, fins, and 
grisly parts of the whale. There is, however, a part of 
the whale, not mentioned in Mr. Raines's specification, 
not of a grisly nature, which is very abundant, and. 
which, from analogy, seems very likely to be a good 
article for this purpose. 

Dr. Hunter, in his anatomy of the whale, mentions 
that the cutis and cuticle have in this animal very 
little connexion, which in all land animals form but one 
substance. The cuticle of the whale is very thin ; and 
this, from its little adherence to the cutis, seamen 
esteem only the skin of the animal : but, under this 
lies the cutis, nearly an inch thick acording to Dr. Hun- 
ter; and, it is this part that is here recommended. It 
is the cutis alone of the skin of other animals that is 
soluble, and very good glue may be made from this 
part of most animals. It is therefore probable, that 
the same part of the whale might yield glue ; that it at 
least deserves a trial ; and as glue is much dearer than 
fish oil by the pound, those concerned in the whale 
fisherv might find their account in bringing home ma- 
terials for glue as well as oil. The preservation of the 
parts of the whale fit for making glue might be effected 
hy using lime for them, in the same manner as salt is 
used to preserve flesh for food ; and it is very li'kely 
nothing more would be necessary but to cask them up 
with sufficient lime to fill every interval between each 
stratum, and absorb all moisture : when circumstances 
would permit, those articles should be dried as much 
as possible before being casked. The expense or trouble 
of taking out a few casks of lime for this purpose would 
be but trifling ; and it is more than probable that whoever 



FACTS RELATIVE TO MILDEW. 41 

will make the trial once, will always bring out lime in 
future to prepare those articles. 



FACTS RELATIVE TO MILDEW 

WITH REMARKS) &C.— »YOUNG's ANNALS. 

THE mass of intelligence which Mr. A. Young has 
collected from various parts of the kingdom relative to 
the nature and causes of the mildev/, which latterly has 
been particularly destructive, confers a considerable be- 
nefit on this country, and does honour to his patriotick 
exertions. 

From comparing the various accounts published from 
the above source, the following circumstances appear. 

The cause of mildew is now accurately proved to arise 
from a species of very minute fungus, which inserting its 
roots into the pith of the plant, absorbs the nourishment 
intended for the grain, which grain afterwards consists 
of little else but husk. 

The engraving of this fungus, from the drawings of 
Mr. Bauer, botanical painter to his majesty, as it ap- 
peared highly magnified, show that the seed-vessel of it 
is somewhat of the nature of the puiT-ball, and as its seed 
is minute in proportion to the size of the plant, the vast 
number each produces may be judged from what we see 
in the other fungus ; Sir Joseph Banks is of opinion 
that from the first insertion of the plant to its producing 
seed is not more than a week in hot weather,, and that 
every pore in the strav/ where they take root, will pro- 
duce from twenty to forty plants ; and as this seed is 
not heavier than air, the quick propagation and prodi- 
gious extent to which it spreads is hence easily ac- 
counted for. The least breeze conveys the seed in 
every direction, and whenever it finds a proper recepta- 
cle, then it directly takes root and propagates its de- 
structive offspring. 

There are in all plants a vast number of minute pores 
intended to absorb moisture from the air, possessing a 
peculiar mechanism which causes them to open in damp 
weather^ and close in dry ; these pores, situated in longi- 
tudinal furrows in the straw or reed of the grain-bearing 

G 



42 FACTS RELATIVE TO MILDEt^* 

plants, are, in the opinion of the hon. baronet before 
mentioned, the favourite niches of the naildew ; he 
also thinks that of all plants it prefers the barberry bush, 
where it thrives with peculiar vigour, and therefore every 
barberry ma}^ be considered as a strong attractor first, 
and afterwards a powerful propagator of this noxious 
fungus. 

Every species of fungus thrives best in damp and 
shade, and some will not grow without them : this shows 
the reason why in general open situations were less sub- 
ject to the mildew, and a crop not too thick, but which 
admitted a free circulation of air among its reeds, and 
also shows why drilled crops from the last mentioned 
circumstance frequently escaped, and why damp soils, 
damp weather, shade of all kinds, and every thing that 
produced or retained moisture, favoured the growth of 
mildew. 

The fungus also thrives in the site of old dunghills 
and wherever putrefaction has existed. This shows 
why dunged crops were in general subject to it, while 
those which were on a fallow, or followed a crop, which 
had reduced the manure to mould previously, were much 
less affected ; it is not improbable in this case but that 
the litter might actually contain the mildew in a state of 
strong vegetation and that the farmer might thus in re- 
ality plant the mildew at the time he prepared the ground 
for his wheats 

When the stems of wheat or other grain were well co- 
vered with the leaf, provided the circulation of the air 
was free, it in general kept ofl the mildew ; weakl}' plants 
were subject to it frona wanting this defence, and barley 
mostly escaped; and bearded wheat, and other kinds in 
which the reed is not so much exposed, were not 
damaged to so great a degree. Weakly plants seemed 
subject to it from other causes likewise, perhaps from 
the stagnation of their juices favouring its growth. 

It is verv probable that the pores (before mentioned) 
of plants serve the double purpose of absorption and per- 
spiration, and (as every plant is a kind of pneumato-hy- 
drauiick engine, in which heat causes expansion of the 
contained air and fluids, and consequent transudation and 
evaporation, and cold occasions contraction and by it ab- 
sorption through the pores) this shows why the mildew 
w^as observed to spread most rapidly when the weather 
was such as produced these exciting causes most strong!; 



,1,- 



FACTS RELATIVE TO MILDEW. 43 

and in quick succession ; hence a cold night or frost af- 
ter a hot day, very great damp after much heat, and 
particularly of that kind of damp which admitting evapo- 
ration of itself from the surface of the plant, caused a 
greater chill to it, while it made the pores open at the 
same time, were observed to favour the mildew ; for a 
stronger absorption thus taking place, more of the seeds 
of the fungus would enter the pores of the plants along 
with the current of moisture, and perhaps also of air, 
then entering these passages on their way to the internal 
vessels. 

Hot weather is necessary to the growth of mildew ; 
for this reason the cropsi which admitted of more early 
reaping, and were thereby less time exposed, and which 
also escaped the great change of temparature between 
the days and nights at the end of autumn, were also less 
subject to the mildew. 

Other countries are as much subject to the mildew 
as this. Italy and Sicily suffer very much from it, and 
even New South Wales has its crops injured by the 
same cause. 

The small grain (caused by the mildew) though unfit 
for the mill, is, however, not injured in its vegetating 
power ; and, according to the same respectable autho- 
rity before mentiqned, is as fit for seed as the plumpest 
and heaviest grain ; because one tenth of the contents of 
a grain of good wheat is sufficient for the support of th» 
nascent plant ; the greater proportion of farina at present 
existing in those grains, being the effect of cultivation 
more than the nature of the plant ; as, in like manner, 
the apple, pear, and many other fruits, exceed in size 
those in the wild state, by the same means. 

Of this small grain a less quantity per acre may also 
be used for seed, inasmuch as every bushel of it will 
contain a vastly greater number of seeds j and Sir Jo- 
seph thinks that three bushels of the small grain will 
fully equal four of the large. 

It seems to be a pretty general opinion, that mildewed 
crops should be reaped as soon as the grain is filled with 
its milk, for as the supply of nutriment is cut off by the 
mildew, evaporation will carry off more moisture than 
the plant supplies when standing, and thus cause the 
gr'ain to shrivel, but when cut, the grain being more 
shaded, dries with less loss of weight. 



44 



FACTS RELATIVE TO MILDEW. 



Circumstances favouring the 
propagation and increase 
of Mildew, 

Damp and moisture of 
all kinds, particularly in a 
stagnate state. 

Fog, mist, and evapora- 
tion from the soil. 



Shade. Thickness of 
crop. Plants too close to 
admit free air. 

Warmth. 

Sudden and great chan- 
ges of temperature of air 
from hot to cold. 

Calm and still air. 

Stable manure and litter 
in an undecomposed state. 



Preventives of Mildew » 



Sowing on well drained 
and dry soils. 

Keepinghedges and other 
fences low, and enlarging 
enclosures. 

Drilling and dibbling 
with wide intervals. 

Perhaps furrows and 
drills running east and west, 
would cause a greater cir- 
culation of air, from winds 
in those quarters being 
most prevalent 

By choosing kinds of 
grain which ripen early ; 
early sowing, or by other 
means to manage so as to 
reap early. 

To use no stable manure 
for wheat but what has lain 
in heaps above two years ; 
or never to sow it but after a 
fallow or preparatory crop. 



The vicinity of the bar- Removal of the barberry. 

berry bush. Good preparation of the 

— ground, and perhaps paring 

Weakly state of vegeta- and burning at certain in- 

tion from whatever cause. tervals in the course of 

crops, to destroy insects, 
worms, &c, vegetables, 
stems, or stubble, infected 
with mildew. 

Preferring kinds which 
have the stems best shel- 
tered with leaves, and heads 
beardecL 



METHOD OF RELIEVING SWOLLEN CATTLE. 4^ 



METHOD 

OF RELIEVING CATTLE OR SHEEP, WHEN THEY ARK 
HOVEN, OR SWOLLEN. / 

DESCRIPTION OF A SIMPLE BUT EFFECTUAL METHOD OF RE- 
LIEVING CATTLE AND SHEEP, WHEN, FROM EATING TOO 
VORACIOUSLY OF CLOVER, OR ANT OTHER SUCCULENT FOOD, 
THEY BECOME SWOLLEN, OR IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE 
FARMER, HOVEN. BY MR. RICHARD EAGER, OF GROFFHAM 
FARM, NEAR GUIlI>FORD, ENGLAND. 

FROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, &C. 

A BOUNTY of fifty guineas was voted to Mr. 
Eager for the communication of this method. 

As young clover, rape, and turnips, are of a succulent 
nature, cattle are induced to eat more than they other- 
wise would do , the quantity of fixed air, which that sort 
of food produces, more than common grass, makes the 
cattle more liable to be blown with that than with any 
other food. The extra quantity of air taken down 
occasions the necessity of more wind being discharged 
from the paunch of the beast upwards ; this forces the 
i)road leaves before the passage at the entrance of the 
paunch, which stops the wind from going upwards in its 
regular course ; the paunch immediately begins to swell ; 
the heat of the body rarifies the air, in so rapid a man- 
ner that it stops the circulation of the blood; and the 
beast, whether bullock or sheep dies in half an hour. 

Previous to the discovery of the method herein de- 
scribed, the cure used to be attempted by stabbing the 
animal in the paunch j a method of proceeding always 
dangerous, and very frequently fatal. 

A. A. plate II, fig. 1, is the knob of wood, and 
part of the cane to which it is fixed, of a proper size 
for oxen : the length of the cane to be at least six feet. 

B. B. fig. 2, the knob of wood, and part of the cane 
for sheep : the length of the cane to be about three 
feet. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USING MR. EAGER's INSTRUMENT FOR 

CATTLE. 

Let one person take hold of the beast by the nostril 
and one horn ; let another hold his tongue fast in one 



45 METHOD OF RELIEVING SWOLLEN CATTLE. 

hand, putting the cane down his throat with the other. 
Be careful not to let the animal get the knob of the cane 
between his grinders: observe also to put the cane far 
enough dov/n ; the whole length will not be of injury. 
You will find the obstacle at the entrance of the paunch ; 
push the cane hard, and when you perceive a smell to 
come from the paunch, and the animal's body to shrink, 
the cure is performed, and nature will act for itself. 

Annexed to the foregoing account is a letter from 
lord Egremont, in which his lordship says that he is 
convinced Mr. Eager is right in thij^king that the dis- 
order of cattle, herein described is occasioned solely 
by the vent upwards for the wind being obstructed ; and 
that Mr. Eager's instrument removes the obstruction ; 
which removal he believes to be an easy and infallible 
cure. 

There was likewise a certificate by Mr. Charles Ellis, 
of Noar Farm, in the parish of Bromley, stating a cure 
performed on an ox so violently hoven or swollen, that 
he must have died in a short time, but Mr. Eager ap- 
plied his instrument, and effectually cured him in two 
minutes. The animal returned to his food, and ate 
as heartily as he had done before. 

Mr. Eager mentions another instrument, which he 
says he has found useful for removing turnips or pota- 
toes, when a bullock, fed with either of these roots, 
gets them stuck fast in his throat. He adds that he 
thereby saved two of his own, but does not describe, 
nor give a drawing of the instrument. 

OBSERVATION BY T. G. F. 

Many valuable cattle are lost in America by their hav*^ 
ing eaten too voraciously of green maize or Indian corn._ 
Probably the simple remedy above described might be 
efficacious in cases of that kind ; although it is generally 
thought that the disease occasioned by the swelling of 
the food merely, and not by the obstruction of the 
passage upwards. It is at least worth th^ expei^iment. 



ON USING VESSELS OF LEAD, StC. IN DAIRlfeS. 47 



ON THE DANGER 

OF USING VESSELS OF LEAD, COPPER, OR BRASS, IN DAIRIES* 
BY MR. THOMAS HAYES, SURGEON, OF HAMPSTEAD* 

FROM THE LETTERS AND PAPERS OF THE BATH AND WEST OF 
ENGLAND SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF AGRICUL- 
1 URE, &C. 

MANY eminent physicians have asserted, that but* 
ter is very unwholesome ; while others equally eminent, 
have considered it not only innocent, but as a good as- 
sistant to digestion ; and each have been said to ground 
their opinions upon experience* Perhaps both may be 
right ; and butter may be innocent or mischievous, ac- 
cording as it contains many or few adventitious mate- 
rials, collected from vessels, &c. used in the process of 
making it. 

I am led to these conjectures by observing, that in 
almost all the great dairies, the milk is suffered to stand 
in lead, brass, or copper vessels, to throw up the cream. 
The closeness of the texture of these metals, and their 
coldness and solidity, contribute to separate a greater 
quantity of cream from the milk than would be done by 
wooden trundles, or earthen pans, both of which are 
also sometimes made use of. 

As I wish to establish the possibility of the fact, that 
milk may corrode or dissolve particles of the vessels 
abovementioned, and thereupon be liable to communi- 
cate pernicious qualities to the butter, I beg leave to 
submit the reasons from which I draw this conclusion. 

Whoever has been much in great dairies must have 
observed a peculiarly sour, frowsy smell in them, al- 
though they have been ever so well attended to in point 
of cleanliness, &c. In some, where the managers are 
not very cleanly, this smell is extremely disagreeable, 
owing mostly to the corrupted milk. In some it arisee 
from the utensils being scalded in the dairy, and in others 
from a bad construction of the building itself, the want 
of a sufficient circulation of air, water, &c. but in all, a 
great deal of the lighter and more v^olatile parts of the 
milk fiy off from the surface of the pans, and furnish a 
great quantity of acid effluvia to the surrounding air and 
cieling ; which is again deposited on every thing beneath 
it, and of course often on the vessels, aftei they have 
been put by clean, at the times of their being out of use. 



48 ON USING VESSELS OF LEAD, &C. iN DAIRIES, 

This may be observed to give a dull sort of an appear- 
ance to brass and copper, as if you had breathed upon 
them ; for if you rub your fingers lightly over the ves- 
sels, you will have both the taste and smell of the 
metal. 

It also happens sometimes, that after the vessels were 
washed, they are not carefully rmsed, nor perfectly dried 
by the fire ; so that some of the milk, &c. is left on their 
surface, which dissolves the metals, either by its animal, 
oily, or acescent qualities. 

This is not the only way, nor the worst, by which the 
butter may become impregnated with mischief. The 
greater the quantity of cream thrown up from the milk, 
the larger the profits accruing to the dairy-man ; there- 
fore he keeps it as long as he can, and it is frequently 
kept till it is very sour, and capable of acting upon them ; 
if they are of lead, a calx or sugar of lead is produced ; 
if brass or copper, verdigris. 

It is true that the quantity cannot be very great ; this 
however will depend upon the degree of sourness, and 
length of time which the milk stands ; but, independent 
of the acid, the animal oil in the cream will dissolve brass 
and copper. 

That an acid floats in the atmosphere of a dairy, may 
be proved, by placing therein a basin of syrup of violets, 
for a little time, which will be found to turn red. 

If then I am right in my conjectures, as I think I am, 
from the innumerable experiments and observations 
which I have made to satisfy myself of the fact, and 
which it would be trifling to relate here, may not the 
reputation of wholesomeness, or unwholesomeness of 
butter depend upon or be owing to some of the above 
causes ? And may not many a casual, nay, obstinate 
complaint, which physicians have laboured in vain to ac- 
count for, have originated from this source ? Butter is 
found, very frequently, to occasion much disorder to very 
weakly, delicate and irritable stomachs, yet these sto- 
machs will bear olive-oil : this cannot easily be account- 
ed for, but from metalick impregnation. 

I will not contend, that all the ill eff"ects attributed to 
butter are caused by the mineral particles, which it gains 
by the means above stated. I only insist that it is possi- 
ble, and indeed very probable ; and that, when butter is 
free from these particles, it is not so unwholesome as 
asserted ; though, when it does not contain them, it is 
found to disorder very tender persons. 



OS USING VESSELS OF LEAD, &C. IN DAIRIES. 49 

To enlarge upon the subject, or attempt to explain the 
many ways by which a very small quantity of the above 
metals may prove injurious to the human frame, in some 
particular constitutions, would be only to repeat what has 
already been said by older writers.^ Some will perhaps 
say that my ideas are very far fetched, and others that 
my opinions are ill-founded ; but I trust, whoever has 
read the industrious researches of Sir George Baker, on 
the effects of lead, and the melancholy case of a young 
lady, who died from eating pickled samphire, very 
slightly impregnated with copper, and which others ate 
without being diseased, as related by Dr. Percival, will 
receive my opinions with less objection. If I have err- 
ed, I have done it in honourable company. 

I shall be very glad if the foregoing observations have 
sufficient influence on the dairy-men, to induce them to 
change their utensils. Very commodious vessels may 
be made of cast iron, equally well fitted for the purposes 
of the dairy, which will not be expensive, and will be 
more innocent and cleanly. 

To this article we shall subjoin an abridgment of a 
tract 

ON MAKING BUTTER AND CHEESE, BY MR. JOSIAII XIA- 
ZARD,OF STONY LITTLEION, SOMERSETSHIRE, ENG- 
LAND. 

FROM THE LETTERS A?JD PAPERS OT THE BATH AND WEST O^ 
ENGLAND SOCIETY, FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF AGRICUL- 
TURE. 

The writer states that the Epping butter is known to 
be superiour to any other kind ; that he had occupied a 
large farm in the neighbourhood of Epping, and had like- 
wise been a resident in Somerset; and in both counties 
his butter would procure him, in general, a halfpenny a 
pound more than the general market-price. 

The dairy house he would have kept in the neatest 
order and it should never front the south, south-east, or 
south-west: lattices are to be preferred to windows, as 
they adtnit a more free circulation of air than glazed 
lights. To prevent their admitting too much cold air 



* See Sir George Baker's papers on the effects of lead, In the Medi- 
cal transactions ; Dr. Pcrcival's paper on the same ; and Dr. Falconer 
on copper vessels. 

n 



so ON MAKING Bl^TTER AND CHEESE. 

in winter, and the sun in summer he would have a frame 
of the size of, or somewhat larger than the lattice, so aS' 
to slide backward and forward at pleasure, and pack- 
thread strained across this frame, with oiled cap-paper 
pasted thereon, which will admit light and keep out the 
wind and intense rays of the sun. 

In summer it is hardly possible to keep the dairy 
house too cool, and he would therefore have it situated 
near a good spring or current of water. It should be 
neatly paved either with red brick or smooth hard stones, 
and laid with a proper descent, so that no water may 
lodge. This pavement should be well washed in the 
summer every day, and all the utensils, belonging to the 
dairy should be kept perfectly clean ; nor should churns 
or other utensils ever be scalded in the dairy as the steam 
which would rise from the hot water would injure the 
milk. Cheese should not be kept therein, nor runnet for 
making cheese, nor should a cheese press be fixed in a 
dairy, as the whey and curd will diffuse their acidity 
through the room. 

The proper receptacles for milk are earthen pans, or- 
wooden vats or trundles, but none of these should be lined 
with lead, as the poisonous nature of that metal will af- 
fect the milk. If, however, people will obstinately per- 
sist in their use, they may, by scalding them and scrub- 
bing them thoroughly with salt and water, till no sour 
smeil can be in the least perceived, in a degree, lessen 
their bad effects. 

The greater the quantity of butter, which is made 
from a few cows the greater the profit of the farmer; 
therefore none should be kept, which are not esteemed 
" good milkers." A bad cow will cost as much to feed, 
and produce not more than half so much butter and 
cheese. Farmers ought to be careful how they trust 
negligent servants with the milking of their cows, and 
frequently attend themselves to see that their cows are 
milked clean ; for if any milk be left in the udder, the 
cow will daily give less, and the next season will not af- 
ford sufficient to pay for the expense of keeping. 

If the cow's teats are scratched or wounded, the milk- 
will be foul and tainted and should by no means be 
mixed with that which is pure but be given to the swine. 
When the milk is conveyed to the dairy house it should 
be suffered, in warm weather, to remain in the pail till 
nearly cool before it is strained, but in frosty weather it 
should be strained immediately, and a small quantity of 



.01* MAKING BUTTER AND CHEESJE, 51 

boiling water may be mixed with it, which will cause it 
to produce cream in great abundance, and the more so, 
if the pans or vats have a large surface. 

In hot weather the cream should be skimmed from 
the milk, at or before sun rise, before the dairy becomes 
warm, nor should the milk in hot weather stand in its 
receptacles longer than twenty-four hours, jior be skim- 
med in the evening till after sun-set. In winter milk may 
remain unskimmed thirty-six or forty-eight hours. The 
cream should be deposited in a deep pan, kept during 
summer in a cool place where a free air is admitted. 
Unless churning is performed every other day, the cream 
should be shifted daily into clean pans, but churning 
should always be performed at least twice a week, in 
hot weather ; and this should be performed in the 
morning before sun-rise, taking care to fix the churn 
where there is a free draught of air. If a purnp churn is 
used it may be plunged a foot deep in cold water, and 
remain in that situation, during the whole time of churn- 
ing, which will much harden the butter. A strong ran- 
cid flavour will be given to the butter, if we churn so 
near the fire as to heat the wood in the winter season.^ 

After the butter is churned, it should be immediately 
washed in many different waters, till it is perfectly 
cleansed from the milk ; and should be worked by two 
pieces of wood, for a warm hand will soften it, and make 
it appear greasy. 

Butter will require and endure more working in win- 
ter than in summer. 

Those who use a pump churn must l^eep a regular 
stroke : nor should they permit any person to assist 
them, except they keep nearly the same stroke -, for if 
they churn more slp'vvly, the butter will in the winter g-o 
hack as it is called ; and if the stroke be more quick and 
violent in the suinmer, it will cause a fermentation, by 
which means the butter will acquire j^ very disagreeabfc 
flavour. 



* In the volume from which this is taken it is said (in a letter signed 
Rusticus) that the operation of churning' may be very much shortened, 
by mixing- a little distilled vineg-ar with the cream in the churn. The 
butter being afterwards well washed in two or three changes of water, 
the whole of the acid will be carried off; or if any remain it will not be 
perceived by the taste. A table spoonful or two of the vinegar, to £! 
^a^llon of cream. 



52 ON MAKING BUTTER AND CHEESE. 

When many cows are kept, a barrel churn is to be 
preferred ; but if it be not kept very clean, the bad ef- 
fects will be perceived in the butter ; and the situation 
of the churn must be shifted as the seasons alter, so as 
to fix it in a warm place in winter, and in a cool and airy 
situation in summer. 

In many parts of this kingdom they colour their but- 
ter in winter ; but this adds nothing to its goodness ; it 
rarely happens that the farmers in or near Epping use 
any colour, and when they do it is very innocent. They 
procure some sound carrots, whose juice they press 
through a sieve, and mix with the cream, when it en- 
ters the churn, which makes it appear like May butter ; 
nor do they at any time use much salt, though a little is 
absolutely necessary. 

As they make in that county but very little cheese, so 
of course very little Vv^hey-butter is made. This will not 
keep good more than two days, and the whey will turn 
to better account to fatten pigs. Nothing feeds them 
faster, nor will any thing make them more delicately 
white although good bacon cannot be made from pigs 
thus fatted. 

The writer subjoins the IVest-coimtri/ method of 
making butter, which he describes as follows : 

In the first place, they deposit their milk in earthen 
pans in their dairy-house ; when they have stood twelve 
hours in the summer, and double that space in the win- 
ter, they remove them to stoves made for that purpose, 
which stoves are filled with hot embers : on these thev 
remain till bubbles arise, and the cream changes its co- 
lour : it is then deemed heated enough ; and this they 
call scalded cream. It is afterwards removed steadily 
to the dairy, where it remains twelve hours more, and 
is then skimmed from the milk and put into a tub or 
churn. Some scald it over the fire, but then smoke is 
apt to affect it ; and in either case if the pans touch the 
fire they will crack or fly, and the milk and cream will 
be wasted. 

The land whereon cows feed very often affects the 
butter. If wild garlick, charlock, or may-weed be found 
in pasture grounds, cows should not feed therein till af- 
ter they have been mown, when those pernicious plants 
will appear no more till the following spring; and milch 
^ows must not partake of the hay made therefrom, as 
that will communicate its bad qualities. 



ON MAKING CHEESE. 53 

Great part of the Epping butter is made from cows 
that feed during the summer months in Epping forest, 
where the leaves and shrubby plants contribute greatly 
to the flavour of the butter. 

The mountains of Wales, the highlands of Scotland, 
and the moors, commons and heaths of England pro- 
duce excellent butter, when it is properly managed ; and 
though not equal in quantity far superiour in quality, to 
that which is produced from the richest meadows. 

Turnips and rape affect milk and butter ; but brewers 
grains are sweet and wholesome food, and will make 
cows give abundance of milk ; yet the cream thereon 
will be thin, except good hay be given at the same time, 
after every meal of grains. Coleworts and cabbages are 
also excellent food ; and if these and savoys were culti- 
vated for this purpose the farmers would find their ac- 
count in it. 

Cows should never be suffered to drink improper wa- 
ter ; stagnated pools, water wherein frogs spawn, com- 
mon sewers, and ponds that receive the drainings of sta- 
bles are improper. 

ON MAKING CHEESE. 

The double Gloucester is made of new, or what is called 
covered milk. An inferiour kind is made from what is 
called half covered milk. It is best where possible to 
make a large cheese from one meal's milk. If milk 
which has stood from one milking to another be mixed 
with that which is fresh from the cow it will be a longer 
time before it turns, and sometimes will not change till it 
is heated, by which it frequently gets dust, smoke and 
soot, which give it a disagreeable flavour. 

When the milk is turned, the whey should be carefully 
strained from the curd, which should be broken small and 
put a little at a time into the vat, carefully breaking it as 
it is put in. The vat should be filled an inch or more 
above the brim, that the curd when the whey is pressed 
out may not sink below the brim ; if it does the cheese 
will be worth but little. A cheese cloth or strainer 
should be laid at the bottom of the vat or tub, so large 
that when it is filled with the curd, the ends of the cloth 
may turn over the top of it. 

When this is done it should be taken to the press and 
remain two hours, then turned, and a clean cloth put 
under it, and be turned over as before. It should then 



54. ON MAKING CHEESE. 

be again pressed for six or eight hours, and again turn- 
ed and rubbed on each side with sah ; after which it 
mnst be pressed again for twelve or fourteen hours ; 
when if any of the edges project, they should be pared 
off: the cheese may then be placed on a dry board, and 
it should be regularly turned every day. 

Three or four holes should be bored round the lower 
part of the vat, that the whey may drain perfectly from 
the cheese. 

The opinion that cheeses will spoil if they are not 
scraped and washed, where they are found to be moul- 
dy, this writer thinks is erroneous, and that suffering 
ihem to mould mellows them, provided thev are turiied 
every day: or if the mould is taken off. itougbc to be 
removed by a clean dry flannel, as washing the cheeses 
is only a mean of making the mould (which is a species 
of fungus, rooted in tlie coat) grow again immediately. 

This writer condemns the practice of scalding the 
<^urd, as it " robs the cheese of its fatness ; and can 
only be done with a view to raise a greater quantity of 
whey butter, or to bring the cheeses forward for sale, 
by making them appear older than they are. 

A little arnette mixed with the milk, before it is 
turned will give the cheese a yellow colour, and it is 
perfectly innocent. 

It is not possible to make good cheese with bad runnet^ 
and this writer gives the following receipt. 

" The veil, maw, runnet-bag (or by whatever name 
it is called) should be perfectly sweet; for if it be in 
the least tainted, the cheese will never be good. When 
this is perfectly sweet, three pints or two quarts of soft 
water (clean and sweet) should be mixed with salt, in 
which should be put sweet brier, rose leaves, and flow- 
ers, cinnamon, mace, cloves, and in short almost every 
sort of spice and aromatick. These should be put into 
two quarts of water, and boiled gently, till the liquor 
is reduced to three pints ; and care should be taken that 
the liquor be not smoked. It should be strained clean 
from the spices, &c. and when found to be not warmer 
than milk from the cow, it should be poured on the veil 
or maw ; a lemon may then be sliced into it, when it may 
remain a day or two ; after which it should be strained 
again, and put into a bottle, where, if well corked it 
will remain for a year or more. It will smell like a 
perfume ; and a small quantity of it will turn the milk, 
wid give the chcresc an agreeable flavour. After thi*? 



bN MAKING CHEESE. ^S 

if the Vfell or runnet bag be salted and dried lor a week 
or two near the fire, it will do for the purpose again, 
almost as well as before. 

This writer, attributes the excellence of Cheshire 
cheese, principally to the richness of the land, and the 
farmer's being able to make cheeses frequently exceed- 
ing one hundred pounds weight, without adding '' a se- 
cond meal's milk." They salt the curd, and keep the 
cheeses in a damp place after they are made, and take 
care to turn them daily, 

Stilton cheese, he informs us is esteemed the Parm€»« 
san of England, and except there is some defect in it, 
is never sold for less than one shilling or fourteen pence 
per pound. 

The Stilton cheeses are made in square vats, and 
weigh from six to twelve pounds each. They should 
as soon as made be put into square boxes, which exactly 
fit them, for without this precaution they frequently bilge 
and break asunder ; they should be daily turned in these 
boxes, and kept two years before they are properly mel- 
lowed for sale. They are sometimes made in a net, like 
a cabbage net, and appear somewhat like an acorn. 
These, however, are not so good as those before de- 
scribed, having a thicker coat, and not so rich a flavour. 
The farmers of Stilton are very remarkable for their 
cleanliness in their dairies. 

The excellence of the Stilton cheeses this writer at- 
tributes to the following circumstance. They make a 
cheese every morning; and to the morning's milk add 
the cream of that which was milked the night before. 

This writer says that it is a wasteful practice to give 
skimmed milk to pigs ; as the whey will afford thfem as 
much nutriment, after cheeses have been made from this 
milk. Such chectes will always sell at the rate of at 
least two pence per pound, which will amount to a large 
sum annually, where they make much butter. The 
peasants and many of the farmers in the north of Eng- 
land, never eat any better cheeses than these ; and 
though they appear harder, experience has proved them 
to be much easier of digestion than new milk cheeses. 

The writer concludes this valuable communication 
with the following sentence. 

" As I have taken much pains, by actual practice, to 
find out the defects of others, in making butter and 
cheese, so through my advice several have attained to 
pferfection in this art; and I shall think myself unwortTiy 



36 ON MAKING CHEESF.. 

your patronage, if all do nor excel who will strictly ad- 
here to tlie methods lie re laid down/* 

REMARKS BY T. G, F. 

T think that tlie preceding papers, on the subject of 
making butter and cheese, will be found of great practi- 
cal utility by our farmers. What Mr. Hazard has said 
relative to the mode of making the best runnet cannot 
but be of use. The suggestion of making cheese of 
milk, which has stood for twelve hours, or perhaps in 
winter for twenty-four hours is well worth attention. 
I'he richest cream cheeses are not so wholesome, arc 
not so easily preserved, and to some palates (mine for 
one) are less agreeable than those which are made from 
milk which has been once skimmed, 'i^hen if the whey af- 
ter the cheese is made from such skimmed milk, Avould af^ 
ford nearly as much nutriment to pigs, as the milk would 
have done before it had been curdled by the runnet, it 
must be a wrong and wasteful practice, in general, to 
feed swine with skimmed milk, instead of making the 
milk into cheese, and feeding them with the whey. What 
Mr. Hazard and Mr. Hayes call " trundles*' are in 
some parts of America called trays. They are best 
made, I believe, in America of the rock maple, or acer 
^accharhium^ which from its closeness of texture resem- 
bles metals as respects the property of separating a great 
quantity of cream from the milk, and partakes of none of 
the bad qualities of some metals. With regard to earthen 
pans I believe that they are frequently (^-Inzcd (as the 
workmen express it) in America, by an oxyd of lead, 
which perhaps may be dissolved by the acid, and the ani- 
mal oil of milk, and be very deleterious. It would like- 
wise be worth the experiment to ascertain if given quan- 
tities of milk spread over shallow vessels of a large size, 
and the milk being but of a small depths might not facili- 
tate the process of procuring cream, sweeter and in 
greater quantity, than in the common mode. Vessels of 
tin, I believe, if kept clean and sweet would be found to 
be very good receptacles for milk in dairies. 



lf^^:^K'y fo* formino RiCGi^Cf of metal. ^^ 



OBSERVATIONS, 



by the bpitohs of the retrospect of arts, on mr. johj«- 
slater's patknt for forming the rigging and cakj.es 

OF SHIPS of metal CHAINS. — REP. ARTS. 



Mr. slater obtained this patent in January, 
1804 ; the title is a sufficient description of his object. 

The design is no doubt a good one. Some experienced 
captains of ships have mentioned it as such long before 
the patent was obtained. It is even better perhaps than 
the patentee is aware, as in all probability even the first 
cost would be less for standing rigging of chain than of 
hemp, from the high price of this latter article. The 
chiei objection is, that the chain is not sufficiently elastick 
for standing rigging ; but it is very possible to obviate this 
by the addition of properly-constructed springs; and 
some degree of elasticity may be given to the chain it- 
self, by forming it with spiral links. The danger from 
lightning might be easily removed by proper conduct- 
ors, as Mr. Slater observes. 

It is the opinion of an experienced captain, that iron 
chain shrouds should be served with old canvass well 
greased, and spun-yarn ; this would keep them from 
rusting, and make them more convenient to handle to 
the men. Mr. Slater does not propose the use of chain 
for running rigging ; and probably it would be best to 
use hemp lanyards also : but while the design is men- 
tioned as very beneficial, it is proper at the same time to 
observe, that Mr. Slater's patent cannot extend to the 
use of chain, cither in the place of cables, or for slinging 
yards ; for both which purposes it has been employed 
beyond the memory of man. Mooring chains are to be 
found every where ; and several ships bring out chain to 
moor by, to save their hempen cables, which is a very 
good and economical practice. West-India ships often 
have their lower yairds slung with chain ; naval ships have 
always had chain in addition to the hempen slings, and 
no doubt other ships also, A West-India captain has 
slung the three lower yards of his ship with chain, in a 
new method, by which they were much more movable, 
and would go about further, than with hempen slings ; 
and used only two fathoms of chain, which cost but eleven 
shillings. The same captain also used chain hawsers in 
the West- Indies, several years ago, and speaks mn*fh i»^ 

I 



S6 on THE USE OF STEJLM IN GONVEYING HEAT. 

favour of them. Many more instances might be men- 
tioned in favour of the good effect of the use of chains, 
and of their having been used before for these pur- 
poses ; with which perhaps Mr. Slater was not ac- 
quainted. 

We are not acquainted with any instance of chains 
having been actually used for standing rigging, though 
it had been proposed by the captain abovementioned, 
previous to the year 1804. 

REMARK BY T. G. F. 

It did not perhaps occur to Mr. Slater, nor to the, 
editors of the " Retrospect of Discoi^eries," that me- 
tal chains are rendered brittle by frost, and of conse- 
quence, standing rigging of metal would not be pro- 
per for cold climates. Ships, however, designed for 
trading in warm climates, may perhaps be rigged ad- 
vantageously according to the above pateat. 



ON THE USE OF STEAM 

.A'» A VEHICLE FOR CONVEYING HEAT FROM ONE PL-ACE TO. 
ANOTHER. BY COUNT RUMFORD. 

.TFHOM THE JOURNALS OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT 

BRITAIISr. 

• MORE than fifty years ago, colonel William Cook^ 
in a paper presented by him to the Royal Society, and 
published in their Transactions, made a proposal for 
warming rooms by means of metallick tubes filled with 
steam, and communicating with a boiler situated out of 
the room ; which proposal was accompanied by an engrav- 
ing; wfiix^h showed, in a manner perfectly clear and dis- 
tinct,- how this mig'ht be effected. Since that time this 
scheme has frequently been put in practice with success, 
both lii this country and oh the continent*.- — Many at* 

' -■■,'..' ". ^ i'i rh " ; , — \v~Ai /i.j.i. ■-. ! . :j\j'J^ii • ^■\ - \ i^ - 'ij''- ' ^ — — — 

. . .-.,•-.. . ..-^ •:. -^^ ....... ■:..■■: -!-->t ,-:l ^:■ . 

* Although one should naturally Imagine that the notoriety of these 

facts would have been Sufficient to prevent all attempts in oiir days, 
te claim a rig-ht to this inventiou, , yet it is said that a patent for it 



i»N THE USE OF STEAM IN CONVEYING HEAT. 39 

tempts have likewise been made, at different periods, to 
heat liquids by -means of steam introduced into them ; 
but most of these have failed : and, indeed, u^itil it was 
known that the fluids are nonconductors of heat, and, 
consequently, that heat cannot be made to descend in 
them (which is a recent discovery) these attempts could 
hardly succeed ; for, in order to their being successful, 
it is absolutely necessary that the tube which conveys the 
hot steam should open into the loxvest part of the ves- 
sel which contains the liquid to be heated, or on a level 
with its botton> ; but as long as the erroneous opinion 
obtained, thtttheat could pass in fluids in all directions, 
there did not appear to be any reason for placing the 
opening of the steam tube at the bottom of the vessel, 
while many where at hand which pointed out other 
places as being more convenient for it. 

But to succeed in heating liquids by steam, it is ne- 
cessary, not oniy that the steam should enter the liquid 
at the bottom of th# vessel which contains it, but also 
that it should enter it coming from above. The steam 
tube should be in a vertical position, and the steani 
should descend through it previous to its entering the 
vessel, and mixing with the liquid which it is to heat ; 
otherwise this liquid will be in danger of being forced 
back by this opening into the steam boiler ; for the hot 
steam being suddenly condensed on coming into contact 
with the cold liquid, a vacuum will necessarily be formed 
in the end of the tube ; into which vacuum the liquid 
in the vessel, pressed by the whole weight of the incum- 
bent atmosphere, will rush with great force, and with 
a loud noise ; but if this tube be placed in a vertical 
position, and if it be made to rise to the height of six 
or seven feet, the liquid which is thus forced into its 
lower end will not have time to rise to that height be- 
fore it will be met by steam, and obliged to return back 
into the vessel. There will be no difficulty in arrangii^ 
the apparatus in such a manner as effectually to prevent 
the liquid to be heated from being forced backwards 
into the steam-boiler ; and, when this is done, and some 
other necessary precautions to prevent accidents are 
taken, steam may be employed with great advantage 
for heating liquids ; and for keeping them hot, in a 



was taken out only a few years ag-o. See Mr. Green's specification, 
p.ublished in our first volume, pag-e 21. 



6b ON THE USE OF STEAM IN CONVEYING HEAT. 

variety of cases, in which fire, applied immediately to 
the bottoms of the containing vessels, is now used. 

In dying, for instance, and in brewing ; and in the 
processes of many other arts and manufactures, the 
adoption of this method of applying heat would be at- 
tended not only with a great saving of labour and of 
fuel, but also of a considerable saving of expense in the 
purchase and repairs of boilers, and of other expensive 
machinery : for when steam is used instead of fire for 
heating their contents, boilers may be made extremely 
thin and light ; and as they may easily be supported and 
strengthened by hoops and braces of iron, and other cheap 
materials, they will cost but little, and seldom stand in 
need of repairs. To these advantages we may add others 
of still greater importance : boilers intended to be heat- 
ed in this manner may, without the smallest difficulty, 
be placed in any part of a room, at any distance |romthe 
fire, and in situations in which they may be approached 
freely on every side. They may moreover easily be so 
surrounded with wood, or with other cheap substances, 
which form warm covering, as most completely to con- 
fine the heat within them, and prevent its escape. The 
tubes by which the steam is brought from the principal 
boiler (which tubes may conveniently be suspended just 
below the cieling of the room) may in like manner, be 
covered, so as almost entirely to prevent all loss of heat 
by the surfaces of them ; and this to whatever distances 
they may be made to extend. 

In suspending these steam tubes, care must, however, 
be taken to lay them in a situation not perfectly harizontal 
under the cieling, but to incline them at a small angle, 
making them rise gradually from their junction with the 
top of a large vertical steam-tube, connecting them with 
the steam-boiler, quite to their, furthest extremities : 
for, when these tubes are so placed, it is evident that all 
the water formed in them, in consequence of the con- 
densation of the steam in its passage through them, will 
run backwards, and fall into the boiler, instead of ac- 
cumulating in them, and obstructing the passage of the 
steam, which it would not fail to do were there any con- 
siderable bends or wavings, upwards and dov/nwards, in 
these tubes, or of running forward, and descending with 
the steam into the vessels containing the liquids to be 
heated, which would happen if these tubes inclined 
downwards instead of inclining upwards, as they recede 
Tiiom the boiler. 



•ON THE USE OF STEAM IN CONVEYING HEAT. 61 

In order that clear and distinct ideas may be formed 
of the various parts of this apparatus, even without 
figures, I shall distinguish each part by a specifick 
name : the vessel in which water is boiled in order to 
generate steam, and which, in its construction, may be 
made to resemble the boiler of a steam-engine, I shall 
call the steam-boiler : the vertical tube, which, rising up 
from the top of the boiler, conveys the steam into the 
tubes (nearly horizontal) which are suspended from the 
ceiling of the room, I shall call the prime conductor ; 
to the horizontal tubes I shall gives the name of hori^ 
"zontal conductors^ or simply conductors of steam; and 
to the smaller tubes, which, descending perpendicu- 
larly from these horizontal conductors^ convey the steam 
to the liquids which are to be heated, I shall, exclu- 
sively, appropriate the appellation of steam tubes. 

The vessels in which the liquids are put that are to 
be heated, I shall call the containing vessels, — These 
vessels may be made of any form ; and, in many 
cases, they may, without any inconvenience, be con- 
structed of wood, or of other cheap materials, instead 
of being made of costly metals, by which means a very 
heavy expense may be avoided. 

Each steam tube must descend perpendicularly from 
the horizontal conductor with which it is connected to the 
level of the bottom of the containing vessel to which it 
belongs ; and, moreover, must be furnished with a good 
brass cock, perfectly steam-tight ; which may best be 
placed at the height of about six feet above the level of 
the floor of the room. 

This steam tube may either descend within the vesseltQ 
which it belongs, or on the outside of it^ as shall be found 
most convenient. If it comes down on the outside of the 
vessel, it must enter it at its bottom, by a short horizon- 
tal bend ; and its junction with the bottom of the vessel 
must be well secured, to prevent leakage. If it comes 
down into the vessel, on the inside of it, it must descend 
to the bottom of it, or at least to within a very few inches 
of the bottom of it ; otherwise the liquid in the vessel will 
not be uniformly and equally heated. 

When the steam tube is brought down on the inside of 
the containing vessel, it may either come down perpen- 
dicularly, and without touching the sides of it, or it may 
come down on one side of the vessel, and in contact 
with it. 



'6?' ON THE USE OF STEAM IN CONVEYING HEAT, 

When several steam tubes, belonging to different con- 
taining vessels, are connected with one and the same ho- 
rizontal steam conductor, the upper end of each of these 
tubes, instead of being simply attached by soldering to 
the under side of the conductor, must enter at least one 
inch within the cavity of it ; otherwise the water resulting 
from a condensation of apart of the steam in the conduc- 
tor, by the cold air which surrounds it, instead of finding 
its way back into the steam boiler, will descend through 
the steam tubes and mix with the liquids in the vessels 
below ; but when the open ends of these tubes project 
upwards within the steam conductor, though it be but to 
a small height above the level of its under side, it is evi- 
dent that this accident cannot happen. 

It is not necessary to observe here, that, in order that 
the ends of the steam tubes may project within the kori' 
zontal conductor, the diameters of the former must be 
considerably less than the diameter of the latter. 

To prevent the loss of heat arising from the cooling 
of the different tubes through which the steam must 
pass in coming from the boiler, all those tubes should 
be well defended from the cold air of the atmosphere, 
by means of warm covering ; but this may easily be 
done, and at a very trifling expense. The horizontal 
conductors may be enclosed within square wooden 
tubes, and surrounded on every side by charcoal dust, 
fine sawdust, or even by wool ; and the steam tubes, 
and prime conductor, may be surrounded, first by three 
or four coatings of strong paper, firmly attached to 
them by paste or glue, and covered with a coating of 
varnish, and then by a covering of thick coarse cloth. 
It will likewise be advisable to cover the horizontal 
conductors with several coatings of paper, for if the 
paper be put on to them while it is wet with the paste 
or glue, and if care be taken to put it on in long 
slips or bands, wound regularly round the tube in a 
spiral line, from one end of it to the other, this covering 
will be useful, not only by confining more effectually the 
heat, but also by adding very much to the strength of 
the tube, and rendering it unnecessary to employ thick 
and strong sheets of metal in the construction of it. 

However extraordinary and incredible it may appear, 
I can assert it as a fact, which I have proved by repeated 
i&xperiments, that if a hollow tube, constructed of sheet 
copper one twentieth of an inch in thickness, be cover- 
ed by a coating onlv twice as thick, or one-tenth oF 



O.N THE USE OF STEAM IN CONVEYING liEAT. 6^ 

all inch in thickness, formed of layers of strong paper, 
firmly attached to it by good glue, the strength of 
the tube will be 7nore than doubled by this covering. 
I found by experiments, the most unexceptionable and 
decisive — of which I intend at some future period to 
give to the publick a full and detailed account, that the 
strength of paper is such, when several sheets of it ar€ 
firmly attached together with glue, that a solid cylinder 
of this substance, the transverse section of which should 
amount to only One superficial inch, would sustain a 
weight of 30,000 lb. avoirdupois, or abovie IS tons, 
suspended to it, without being pulled asunder or broken. 
The strength of hemp is still much greater, when it 
is pulled equally, in the direction of the length of its 
■fibres. I found, from the results of my experiments 
with this substance, that a cylinder of the size above 
mentioned, composed of the straight fibres of hemp> 
glued together, would sustain 92,000 lb. without being 
pulled asunder. 

A cylinder, of equal dimensions, composed of the 
strongest iron I could ever meet with, would not sus- 
tain more than 66,000 lb. weight ; aiid the iron must 
be very good not' to be pulled asunder with a weight 
^qual to 55,000 lb. avoirdupois. ' '" 

I shall not, in this place, enlarge on the many advan- 
tages that may be derived from a knowledge of these 
curious facts. I have mentioned them now in order 
that they may be known to the publick ; and that ingeni- 
ous men, who have leisure for these researches, may be 
induced to turn their attention to a subject, not only ver^^ 
Interesting on many accounts, but which promises to 
lead to most important improvements in mechanicks. 

I cannot return from this digression without just men^ 
tioning one or two results of my experimental investiga- 
tions relative to the force of cohesion, or strength of 
bodies, which certainly are well calculated to excite the 
curiosity of men of science. 

The strength of bodies of different sizes, similar in, 
form^ and composed of the same mbsiance, — or the for- 
ces by which they resist being pulled asunder by weights 
suspended to them, and acting in the direction of their 
lengths, are not in the simple ratio of the areas of their 
transverse sections^ or of their fractures ; — but in a. 
higher ratio ; — and this ratio is different m different 
substances. 



64 ON THE U«E OF STEAM IN CONVEYING HEAT; 

The fGn}i of a body has a considerable influence on its 
strength, eveti when it is pulled in the direction of its' 
length, 

, All bodies, even the most brittle, appear to be torn 
^dsundery or their particles separated, or fibres broken, 
tsne after the other ; and hence it is evident, that that 
form must be most favourable to the strength of any- 
given body, pulled in the direction of its length, which 
enables the greatest number of its particles, or longitu- 
dinal fibres, to be separated to the greatest possible dis- 
tance, short of that at which the force of cohesion 
is overcome, before any of them have been forced be- 
yond that limit. 

It is more than probable that the apparent strength of 
different substances depends much more on the number 
of their particles that come into action before any of them 
are forced beyond the limits of the attraction of cohe- 
sion, than on any spccifick difference in the intensity of 
that force in those substances. 

But to return to the subject more immediately under 
consideration. — As it is essential that the steam employ- 
ed in heating liquids, in the manner before described, 
should enter the containing vessel at, or very near its 
bottom, it is evident that this steam must be sufficiently 
strong, or elastick, to overcome, not only the pressure 
of the atmosphere, but also the additional pressure of the 
sliperincumbent liquid in the vessel; the steam boiler 
paust, therefore, be made strong enough to confine the 
steam, when its elasticity is so much increased by means- 
of additional heat, so as to enable it to overcome that 
resistance. This increase of the elastick force of the 
steam need not, however, in any case, exceed a pressure 
of fi.ve or six pounds upon a square inch of the boiler, 
or one third part ^ or one half of an atmosphere. 

It is not necessary for me to observe here, that in 
this and also in all other cases, where steam is used as 
a vehicle for conveying heat from one place to another, 
it is indispensably necessary to provide safety vahes of 
two kinds ; the one for letting a part of the steam escape, 
when, on the fire being suddenly increased, the steam 
becomes so strong as to expose the boiler to the danger 
of being burst by it ; — the other for admitting air into 
the boiler, when, in consequence of the diminution of 
the heat, the steam in the boiler is condensed, and a 
.vacuum is formed in it ; and when, without this valve, 
there would be danger, either of having the sides of the 



ON THE. USE OF STEAM IN CONVEYING HEAT, 6i 

boiler crushed, and forced inwards by the pressure of 
the atmosphere from without, or of having the liquid 
in the containing vessels forced upwards into the hori- 
zontal steam conductors, and from thence into the steam 
boiler. This last mentioned accident, however, can- 
not happen, unless the cocks in some of the steam tubes 
happen to be open. The two valves effectually prevent 
all accidents. 

The reader will, no doubt, be more disposed to pay 
attention to what has here been advanced, on this in- 
teresting subject, when he is informed that the proposed 
scheme has already been executed on a very large 
€cale, and with complete success ; and that the above 
details are little more than exact descriptions of what 
actually exists. 

A great mercantile and manufacturing house at Leeds, 
that of Messrs. Gott and Company, had the courage, 
notwithstanding the mortifying prediction of all their 
neighbours, and the ridicule with which the scheme was 
attempted to be treated to erect a dying house^ on a 
very large scale indeed, on the principles here described 
and recommended. 

On my visit to Leeds the last summer, I waited on, 
Mr. Gott, who v^as then mayor of the town, and who 
received me with great politeness, and showed me the 
cloth halls, and other curiosities of the place ; but no- 
thing he showed me interested me half so much as his 
own truly noble manufactory of superfine woollen cloths. 
I had seen few manufactories so extensive, and none 
so complete in all its parts. It was burnt to the ground, 
the year before I saw it, and had just been rebuilt on 
a larger scale ; and with great improvements in almost 
every one of its details. The reader may easily con- 
ceive, that I felt no small degree of satisfaction on going 
into the dying house to find it fitted up on principles 
which I had had some share in bringing into repute, and 
which Mr. Gott told me he had adopted in consequence 
of the information he had acquired in the perusal of 
my seventh essay. He assured me that the experiment 
had answered, even far beyond his most sanguine ex- 
pectations ; and, as a strong proof of the utility of the 
plan, he told me, that his next door neighbour, who is^ 
a dyer by profession, and who, at first, was strongly 
prejudiced against these innovations, has lately adopted 
them, and is now convinced that they are real improve- 
;ments, Mr. Gott assured me that he had no doubt 



66 ON THE USE OF STEAM IN CONVEYING HEAT. 

but that they would be adopted by every dyer in 
Great Britain in the course of a very few years. 

The dying house of Messrs. Gott and Company, 
which is situated on the ground floor of the principal 
building of the manufactory, is very spacious, and con- 
tains a great number of coppers of different sizes ; 
and as these vessels, some of which are very large, are 
distributed about promiscuously, and apparently without 
any order in their arrangement, in two spacious rooms, 
each copper appearing to be insulated, and to have no 
connexion whatever with the others, all of them to- 
gether form a singular appearance. The rooms are 
paved with flat stones, and the brims of all the coppers, 
great and small, are placed at the same height, about 
three feet, above the pavement , some of these coppers 
contain upwards of 1800 gallons ; and they are all 
heated by steam from one steam boiler, which is situated 
in a corner of one of the rooms. 

The horizontal tubes which serve to conduct the 
steam from the boiler to the coppers are suspended 
just below the ceiling of the rooms : they are made — 
some of lead, and some of cast iron ; and are from 
four to five inches in diameter ; but when I saw them, 
they were naked, or without any covering to confine 
the heat. On my observing to Mr. Gott that coverings 
for them would be useful, he told me that it was in- 
tended that they should be covered, and that coverings 
would be provided for them. 

The vertical steam tubes ^ by which the steam passes 
down from the horizontal steam conductors into the 
coppers, are all constructed of lead, and are from three 
fourths of an inch to two and a half inches in diame- 
ter ; being made larger or smaller, according to the 
sizes of the coppers to which they belong. These 
steam tubes all pass down on the outsides of their cop- 
pers, and enter them horizontally at the level of their 
bottoms. Each copper is furnished with a brass cock, 
for letting off its contents ; and it is filled with water 
from a cistern at a distance, which is brought to it by 
a leaden pipe. The coppers are all surrounded by thin 
circular brick walls, which serve not only to support 
the coppers, but also to confine the heat. 

The rapidity with which these coppers may be heated, 
by means of steam, is truly astonishing. Mr. Gott as- 
sured me that one of the largest of them, containing 
ujJwaidsof 1800 gallons, when filled with cold water 



01^ THE USE OF STEAM IN CONVEYING HEAT. 67v 

from the cistern, requires no more than half an hour to 
heat it till it actually boils ! By the greatest fire that 
could be made under such a copper, with coals, it 
would hardly be possible to make it boil in less than 
an hour. 

It is easy to perceive, that the saving of time which 
will result from the adoption of this new mode of 
applying heat will be very great ; and it is likewise evi- 
dent, that it may be increased, almost without limitation, 
merely by augmenting the diameter of the steam tube j 
care must, hov/ever, be taken that the boiler be suffi- 
eiently large to furnish the quantities of steam required. 
The saving of fuel will also be very considerable. Mr. 
Gott informed me, that, from the best calculation 
he had been able to make, it would amount to near 
two-thirds of the quantity formerly expended, when 
each copper was heated by a separate fire. 

But these savings are far from being the only ad- 
vantages that will be derived from the introduction 
of these improvements in the management of heat: 
there is one, of great importance indeed — not yet men- 
tioned — which alone would be sufficient to recommend 
the very general adoption of them. — As the heat com- 
municated by steam can never exceed the mean tempe- 
rature of boiling water by more than a very few degrees 
the substances exposed to it can never be injured by 
it. In many arts and manufactures this circumstance 
will be productive of great advantages, but in none will 
its utility be more apparent than in cookery ; and espe- 
cially in publick kitchens, where great quantities of 
food are prepared in large boilers j for, when the heat 
is conveyed in this manner, all the labour ^low employed 
in stirring about the contents of those boilers, to prevent 
the victuals from being spoiled by the burning to the 
bottoms of them, will be unnecessary; and the loss of 
heat occasioned by this stirring prevented ; and, instead 
of expensive coppers, or metallick boilers, which are 
difficult to be kept clean, and often stand in need of 
repairs — common wooden tubs may, with great advan- 
tage, be used as culinary vessels ; and their contents 
may be heated by portable fire places^ by means of 
steam boilers attached to them. 

As these portable lire places and their steam boilers 
may, without the smallest inconvenience, be made of 
such weight, form, and dimensions, as to be easily 
transported from one place to another by two men, and 



68 ON THE USE or STEAM IN CONVEYING HEAT. 

be carried through a door-way of the common width— 
with this machinery, and the steam tubes belonging to 
it, and a few wooden tubs, a complete publick kitchen, 
for supplying the poor and other^ with soups, and also 
with puddings, vegetables, meat, and all other kinds 
of food prepared by boilings might be established in half 
an hour, in any room, in which there is a chimney by 
which the smoke from the portable fire-place can be car- 
ried off; and, when the room should be no longer 
wanted as a kitchen, it might, in a few minutes, be 
cleared of all this culinary apparatus, and made ready 
to be used for any other purpose. 

This method of conveying heat is peculiarly well 
adapted for heating baths : it is likewise highly proba- 
ble that it would be found useful in the bleaching busi- 
ness, and in washing linen. It would also be very use- 
ful in all cases where it is required to keep any liquid 
at about the boiling point for a long time without; mak- 
ing it boil ; for the quantity of heat admitted may be 
very nicely regulated by means of the brass cock be- 
longing to the steam tube. Mr. Gott showed me a boiler 
in which shreds of skins were digesting in order to make 
glue, which was heated in this manner; and in which 
the heat was so regulated, that, although the liquid ne- 
ver actually boiled, it always appeared to be upon the 
very point of beginning to boil 

This temperature had been found to be best calcu- 
lated for making good glue. Had any other lower 
temperature been found to answer better, it might 
have been kept up with the same ease, and with equal 
precision, by regulating properly the quantity of steam 
admitted. 

I need not say how much this country is obliged to 
Mr. Gott, and his worthy colleagues. To the spirited 
exertions of such men — who abound in no other coun- 
try — we owe one of the proudest distinctions of our 
national character : that of being an enlightened and 
an enterprising people. 

REMARK BY T. G. F. 

The mode heating water by steam above described ^ 
should be adopted in preparing skins for tanning, as de- 
scribed by Mr. Martin, see pages 17 and 18, and for 
macerating hemp as described pages 27, ^8, and many, 
other processes. 



METHOD OF HEATING ROOMS BY STEAM. 6^ 



METHOD OF HEATING ROOMS BY STEAM. 

BY MR. NEIL SNODGRASS, OF RENFREW. — TRANS. SOC ARTSr 

VOL. 24. 

MR. SNODGRASS having been engaged to ma- 
nage a cotton-mill in a part of Scotland where fuel was 
scarce, was induced to try the effect of steam for warm- 
ing the air of its different apartments (from observing 
the method of drying muslins by wrapping them round 
hollow cylinders heated by steam, which was practised 
near Glasgow) both on account of the saving of fuel it 
would produce, and its removing all danger of confla- 
gration, to which mills, heated in the usual manner, are 
most exposed. 

He put this method in practice at a mill at Dornach, 
with such success as to heat it completely with one half 
the fuel, that would be necessary for this purpose with 
the best constructed stoves, but as the apparatus for this 
mill was not as perfect as that afterwards contrived, it 
need not be here detailed. 

Two cotton mills belonging to G. Houston, Esq. of 
Johnstone, were also warmed by steam ; in one of these, 
six stories high, a lying pipe of cast iron, 5 inches in di- 
ameter, is carried along the middle of the ceiling of the 
lower story, about two feet from the ceiling, with a small 
declivity to carry off the water. This pipe heats the 
lower story, and from it arise tin pipes of 7^ inches iu 
diameter, at intervals of 7 feet from each other, which, 
passing perpendicularly upwards through all the floors 
in the mill, form a line of heated columns in the middle 
of each room. In the other mill this plan has received 
some alterations on account of the irregularity of the 
building. Valves opening inwards were added to the 
tin pipes, to prevent their compression by accidental 
condensation of the steam -, and another valve was pla- 
ced opening outwards at the lower part of the apparatus 
to permit the air contained in the pipes to pass as its 
place was occupied by steam. 

Certificates of five other mills being heated in the 
same manner, to great advantage, by Mr. Snodgrass, 
were received by the Society for Arts, &c. 

In new manufactories, where the mode of heating 
may be made an original part of the plan, Mr. Snod- 



%0' i^ETHOD Oi' HEATING ROOMS BY STEAM- 

grass recommends aa apparatus, of which the following 
is a description : 

Vertical pipes of cast iron, about 7 inches in diameter 
in the lower stories, and 6 inches diameter in the upper 
stories, ascend from the bottom to the top of the mill in 
the middle of the apartments, at about 7 or 8 feet dis- 
tance from each other. These pipes come close to the 
beams in each story, and are contrived so as to support 
them b}^ projecting pieces, like brackets, cast to them in 
the proper places, which go under the beams ; and by 
wedges driven between them and the beams, each can be 
made to have a due bearing : and thus these pipes per- 
form the double office of steam flues, and of pillars to 
support the mill-floors. 

The joints of the pipes, are each of the length of the 
height of the story where it is placed, andi fit into each 
other by a projecting socket at the place of contact, 
which is stuffed in the intervals so as to be steam tight. 
These vertical pipes all communicate at top with a smal- 
ler horizontal pipe, which passes to the open air through 
the wall, where it has a valve fitted to it opening out- 
wards, to admit the air to pass, contained at first in the 
pipes ; the vertical pipes all communicate at the bottom 
with a small horizontal copper pipe gently inclined to- 
wards the boiler, with a valve for the same purpose as 
that just mentioned at its upper end, outside the build- 
ing, and an inverted syphon at the other end, over a hot 
well, from whence the boiler is supplied with water, and 
into which all the hot water runs, that is formed by the 
condensation of the steam in the pipes. The boiler is 
outside the building, and communicates with the first 
vertical pipe near the top of the ground floor, by an in- 
clined pipe passing through the wall from its upper part ; 
the steam ascends through the first vertical pipe, in this 
apparatus, then enters the horizontal pipe at the top, 
irom whence it descends into all the vertical pipes, 
forcing out the air before it as it proceeds. 

The boiler, for a mill 60 feet long and 33 feet wide, is 
6 feet long, 3-^ broad, and 3 deep, it is fed, and mana- 
ged in the usual manner ; but the smoke from its fire 
place, after passing through a short level brick flue, as- 
cends into a cast metal pipe enclosed in a vertical brick 
flue, in the gable of the building ; from which brick flue, 
small openings are made into each story a few feet above 
the floor ; and another opening being made in it near the 
ground outsicU, a current of air heated by the iron smolfe 



METHOD OF HEATING ROOMS BY STEAM. 71 

pipe, passes from below into every apartment. The ah* 
passages may have the space of their apertures regulated 
by registers ; and as the iron smoke pipe does not touch 
the fire, having a short brick flue intervening, and conse- 
quently can never be heated so as to be liable to crack, or 
in any other way transmit inflamed substances to the 
mill, there can be little or no danger of fire, while this 
part of the plan still further economises the heat. 

The strength of the pipes, which are 3-8ths of an 
inch thick, render unnecessary valves opening inwards, 
as the pressure of the atmosphere cannot damage them. 

This apparatus will heat the air in the rooms to 85° in 
the coldest season ; and it is evident, that by increasing 
the number of pipes, and the supply of steam, any heat 
under 212°. may be produced. 

The Society of Arts voted Mr. Snodgrass 40 guineas*, 
QkT the gold medal, at his option, for this communication. 

The merit of Mr. Snodgrass in the described appara- 
tus, consists in judicious application of well known prin- 
ciples, not in invention ; for count Rumford, had several 
years ago, heated rooms by steam conveyed by pipes, 
as may be seen in his publication on this subject, in- 
serted in the Repository of Arts, vol. 15. p. 186. and 
elsewhere.* 

Mr. Green, of Wandsworth, also, in 1793, obtained 
a patent for warming rooms by air heated with steam ; 
but his method had not the same similarity to that of 
Mr. Snodgrass, which count Rumford's possesses. 



SUBSTANCE 

OS THE SPECIFICATION OF A PATENT, GRANTED TO SAMUEL 
BENTHAM, ESQ. OF QUEEN-SQUARE, WESTMINSTER ; FOR A 
NEW METHOD OF PERFORMING AND FACILITATING THE BU- 
SINESS OF DIVERS MANUFACTURING AND ECONOMICAL PRO- 
CESSES. REPERTORY OF ARTS. 

THIS patentee informs us that his invention con- 
sists in extracting and excluding the air in the way of 
philosophical experiment. Air, he informs us, although 
so necessary in the ordinary functions of life, is either 
known or suspected to be an obstacle to the arts and 



* The pTeceillng" article, intliis wo'rlc Is what Is here refenrecl to. 



7^ METHOD OF FACILITATING DIVERS PROCESSES. 

manufactures in a great variety of ways. It is an obsta- 
cle to preservation, to separation, as in distillation, to 
the effectuation of contact, to intromission, impregna- 
tion, transmission and percolation, mixture or the regu- 
lation of heat. The patentee then proceeds to show in 
what way the presence of air may be an obstacle to the 
end in view, and thence in what ways advantage may be 
reaped from its exclusion and extraction. 

1. Preservation^ in point of substance. There are few 
substances, but what are subjected to certain alterations 
by the action of atmospherick air, and which may, so far 
as that is the case, be prevented by its extraction and 
exclusion. Such as the putrefaction of animal and ve- 
getable substances, the alteration which causes rancidity 
in oil, the rusting of metals, &c. The practice of 
putting animal substances in fat, owes its preserving 
quality, in good measure to the exclusion of air, by 
means of the fat insinuating itself into all the vacuities, 
and wherever, by an air pump or otherwise, the air can 
be perfectly extracted from such vacuities, a degree of 
preservation as perfect as in the former case may be 
expected. 

Preservation in point of colour. Many of the changes 
to which bodies are subject, in point of colour, are 
known to result from the action of air. An exhausted 
chamber might prevent tarnishing and fading. 

2. Distiliation. The greater the quantity of air in 
the still, the greater the pressure upon the substance 
whence the distillation is to be performed, and the great- 
er the quantity of the heat necessary to enable the sub- 
stance to assume an elastick state. Extract the air from 
the whole of the inclosed space (still and receiver) you 
subtract from the pressure and diminish the quantity of 
heat necessary for distillation. 

7. Mixture of fluid masses -with powders^ or heaps of 
small sized bodies^ may be accelerated by the extraction 
of air. For example, mixing malt or grain with water, 
for the purpose of brewing, may be rendered compara- 
tively instantaneous. Likewise the mixture of water 
with lime, plaster of Parisi or other powders, for making- 
mortar or stucco ; the mixture of oils with different 
powders for glaziers' putty, and paints. 

8. Regulation of heat. By the process of distillation, 
when carried on in vacuo, means are afforded of produ- 
cing a balneum, by which any degree of heat may be 
maintained at pleasure, and continued for any length oi 



JIETHOD OF FACILITATING DIVERS PROCESSES, 7o 

time, from a degree somewhat higher than the lowest at 
which the liquid can be made to distil in vacuo, up to anv 
degree less than that which would cause the vapour or 
steam to burst the still. For this purpose, conceiving 
the contents of the still to constitute the balneum, nothing 
more is necessary than to stop the passing of the vapour 
out of the still into the condenser, by a valve so loaded 
with weights, or impeded by other means as to confine 
the vapour till it has acquired the intended degree of 
heat. By means of the extension thus given to the 
scale of temperature by the removal of air ; a balneum 
of regulated heat will be produced, which will be appli- 
cable to a variety of objects of a chymical and mecha- 
nical kind ; for instance preserving clock work from 
the irregularities, to which, under the ordinary fluctua- 
tions of temperature it is exposed. 

9. Exsiccation, Distillation in vacuo may be applied 
in some cases with advantage to the purpose of separa- 
ting fluids from solids, and thereby drying wood and 
other substances. 

Several of these operations being such as to require a 
larger vacuum than can be made in a common air pump, 
it may be useful to show how an apparatus may be con- 
structed to fit the purposes of this patent. 

The vacuum chamber will be regulated by the scale on 
which it is proposed to operate. It may be of the size of 
a large room like the vessels of a large brewery. It 
should be no larger than is absolutely necessary to faci- 
litate the extraction of the air, and it may be of advan- 
tage to adapt the form of the chamber to that of the sub- 
ject to be contained in it. To enable the operator to see 
the processes as they go on, the chamber may have glass 
windows in it, but the glass must be thick to enable it to 
resist the pressure of the air, and must be fitted in the clo- 
sest manner. Whatever apertures the particular pro- 
cess in view may require, should be made as small as 
possible. 

For the accomplishment of such a variety of objects a 
variety of machinery may be found necessary, as in all 
or most of these cases the source of motion must be ex- 
posed to the external atmosphere ; while the subject to 
be operated upon will be in the vacuum chamber. The 
methods already in use, such as the collar of leather, 
will, in general be found sufficient. A spindle, sliding 
in such a collar, gives rectilinear motion : a spindle 
turning round on its axis gives circular motion ; from 



^4) METHOD OF FACILITATING DIVERS PROCESSESi 

one or the other of these two, or from either of them, 
any other motions may be produced. Agitation or pres-. 
sure, by stampers, rollers, or screws may serve for ex- 
amples. The friction that may appear essential to such 
a communication, will render it advisable that the mo- 
tion, m its first stage, be slow ; but within the chamber 
any degree of quickness may be obtained by the well 
Icnown contrivances of acceleration. So much of the 
friction as depends on the pressure of the external air 
may be got rid of, by substituting to the pressure of a 
close fitting collar that of a column of mercury, of a 
heighth sufficient to counterbalance the greatest weight 
of a column of the atmosphere, forming an annular stop- 
ple in which the axis of communication plays. 

To facilitate the extrication of air from bodies in dif- 
ferent states, different operations may become requisite. 

When the body is of an adhesive nature, the particles 
of an inferiour stratum of it may be forced together, by 
the pressure of the superiour stratum, in such manner 
as to form a kind of cells in whidh small masses of air 
may be pent. In proportion as a mass is thus disposed 
to keep air entangled in it, it is necessary in order to e^= 
tricate the air, to break up the whole mass. This may 
be done by making the mass, in its way from the vessel 
that contains it to the vacuum chamber pass in a highly 
divided state : for instance through a cullender, or sieve, 
or filtering stone. If the mass is too viscous to be thus 
treated, butter for instance, it may be kneaded with a 
kind of stampers ; or the whole be forced through slits 
or holes, like vermicelli or maccaroni ; or passed between 
rollers, spreading it into ribbands of any degree of thin- 
ness. From the apparatus thus employed in the commi- 
nation, the subject matter, at the close of the operation 
mav fall into the vessel (a cask for example) in which it 
is to be packed. The path of its descent may be inclined, 
in order to leave room for a perpendicular descent for 
the pressure. This pressure may be performed for ex- 
ample, by a kind of stamper or piston, so ordered that 
the frequency of 'its descent shall correspond with the 
rate at which the cask is fed as abo%^e. When the cask 
is thus fed the cover being conveyed, by a movement 
within the chamber, to the top of the cask, may then be 
pressed down upon the cask by the same apparatus with 
which the mass is pressed in ; leaving the fastening to 
be secured at leisure by screws or otherwise, after the 
•chamber has been opened, but before ^e pressure has 



METltQD OF FACILITATING DIVERS PROCESSES. f5 

been removed. If the subject matter is small masses of 
a yielding nature, for example in the form of minced 
meat, more or less dried, it may be discharged into the 
cask by tilting, for example, from a vessel of larger con- 
tent suspended above the cask ; the rate of feeding being- 
regulated as before, in correspondence with the strokes 
of the pressing machine. The use of the packing thus 
close is partly to prevent the air from insinuating itself 
into the mass through the vessel, so that an ordinary 
cask may suffice ; partly to prevent the component parts 
of the cask from being unequally forced in by the pres- 
sure of the atmosphere ; partly to |)reVent the air froni 
re-insinuating itself into the mass, when the package is 
opened for use ; and partly to save stowage. 

To assist perfecting the business of cementation by 
the exclusion of air, it may be of use that the operation 
of applying the cement should be performed in the va- 
cuum chamber itself, after the air has been extricated 
from the pores of the substance into which the cement 
is intended to be introduced. Thus for the gluing of 
two boards together, for example one may be flat upon, 
the bottom of the vacuum chamber ; the other remaining 
suspended directly over it, and at such a distance above 
it, as there be sufficient room to admit a brush to apply 
itself between them. This brush may either have been 
previously impregnated with the glue, or it may contain 
in the handle, for example, a reservoir of the fluid, which 
may be discharged when wanted. 

In many cases of impregnation and transmission, the 
fluid which it is intended should be forced through or 
into the subject matter, finds its intended place already 
occupied by another fluid, which it must consequently 
drive out. In these cases an advantageous way of ef» 
fecting the exchange is, so to order matters, that the in- 
closure of the subject matter in the vacuum chamber 
shall be partial only, leaving one part exposed to the pres- 
sure of the external atmosphere, with no other covering 
than that of the impregnating fluid i suppose, for exam-* 
pie, a skin is to be impregnated with the liquids respect 
lively used for tanning and currying ; at the top thp 
materials for the vacuum chamber instead of being air 
light, are of a permeable texture, in the manner of a 
sieve, of a convenient degree of fineness, with a support 
of a strength proportioned to its extent, and composed, 
for instance, of bars, or grating : upon this sieve, the 
sjiin being stretched, is covered with the fluid. The 



76 METHOD OF FACXL1»TATING DIVilRS PROCES'^ESi. 

figure of the skin, however, being irregular, will never 
exactly cover the whole of the permeable part of the 
chamber ; if it is equally extensive in its greatest dimen- 
sions, it will fall short in other places. This deficiency 
must be supplied by another cover impermeable to air, 
such as oiled silk, leather, or some ductile cement ; which 
supplemental covering must be made to apply itself as 
exactly as possible to the edge of the skin, that the air 
may find little or no space at which it can insinuate it- 
self between them. 

It is scarce necessary to observe, that wherever air is 
intended to be extricated, gradually or at successive 
periods, the operation of exhaustion will require to be 
continued or repeated. 

REMARKS BY T. G. F. 

I believe that some of the processes above described 
have been adopted, and found useful in England. It is 
obvious that instead of the " vacuum chamber,'* an oc- 
casional vacuum might be foriaoed. For instance, the 
air might be exhausted from a tanner's vat covered over 
the top, and made air tight, by a simple apparatus, like 
that which is employ^ed in exhausting the air from an 
air pump. Dyers tubs or vats, likewise may be easily 
exhausted of air, and I think that the process of colour- 
ing yarn and cloth has been facilitated by that means, in 
England. In some instances, however, it may be, that 
the presence of air is necessary in order to bring about 
the chymcal changes^ w*hich take place in bodies like 
those which are described as the subjects of the above 
patent. Thus skins to be tanned, would, undoubtedly- 
more speedily imbibe the ooze or liquor, which contained 
the tannin, if the air was previously exhausted from the 
pores of such skins. But whether the presence of air, 
or the oxygen which it contains may not be necessary in 
order to bring about the chemical change, to which the 
skins are subjected, experiments must decide. I think, 
however, that the above will furnish useful hints for stu- 
dents in philosophy, relative to the employment of the 
common air-pump, as most of the bodies described by 
Mr. Bentham, may on a small scale be subjected to the 
operation of such air pumps as are used in our colleges, 
and other seminaries of literature and science. 



MAIN SPRING FOR CARRIAGES. 77 



MIX'S MAIN SPRING FOR CARRIAGES. 

THE subscriber obtained letters patent of tht 
United States on the 18th of April, 1807, for a main 
spring or springs for pleasure or other carriages ; a de- 
scription of which here follows, viz. 

The spring is placed on the centre of the axletree, 
running parellel with it, and is fastened to it by two 
bolts put through the spring and axletree, with nuts to 
each lower end of the bolts, to be placed about four 
inches apart, each end of the spring gradually rising in 
a circular manner until each end will be four or six 
inches from the upper side of the axletree, and extend 
to one inch beyond the outside of the shafts. The 
shafts of the carriage are placed on each end of the 
spring, a bolt is placed through the shaft, the spring, 
axletree and brace, with a nut on the lower end of each 
bolt, also two bolts or bars running from each shaft to 
the brace on each side of the axletree. 

A specification of the superiority of the same in pre- 
ference to all other now in use is herewith presented 
as follows, viz. 

First, They are more safe, easy, and convenient, and 
can be afforded at half the value of the former old steel 
springs. 

Secondly, Safer on this account ; should the main 
spring by any unforeseen accident give way, the rider 
will not be in any danger, as the carriage will not settle 
down more than four or six inches, before it will rest 
safe on the axletree of the carriage, and may proceed 
on a journey without any risk, until a convenient op- 
portunity presents to have it repaired. 

Thirdly, As the shafts of the carriage are placed on 
each end of the main spring, whenever the wheel 
strikes a stone, or any other obstruction, and the wheel 
rises, the spring plays to the motion and eases the car- 
riage and the riders, in a pleasant and agreeable manner, 
and will scarcely be perceivable. 

Fourthly, The weight of the carriage with its load 
centering on the middle of, its axletree, is a very great 
defence against oversetting ; whereas, those carriages 
with high and heavy springs, placed on the top of the 
shafts before and behind, have a great tendency to 
overset, and have often been detrimental to the lives 
and property of. many. 



78 MAIN SPRING FOR CARRIAGE^,. 

Fifthly, A carriage completed with this main, or axle- 
tree spring, is much easier for a horse in his travelling 
up or down hill ; for the carriages now in use, with the 
high steel springs on the shafts behind, the weight being 
so great, takes all the weight from the horse's back in 
his travelling up hill, and presses very hard upon his 
back when going down hill which is intircly prevented 
by this main, or axletree spring, whereby the strength 
of the horse is assisted, and a great loss of flesh pre- 
vented. 

Sixthly, The main or axletree springs, are preferable 
to others, on account that they can be afforded at least at 
half the expense of the high steel springs, and thereby 
put a stop to the importation of the former steel springs., 
and in that way be a saving of some thousands of dol- 
lars to the United States. 

Seventhly, The main or axletree springs are prefera- 
ble to the other kinds now in use. The carriages for this 
iind of springs are much more simple and compact, 
consisting of only the shafts and four bars, making a 
strong frame ; and having no weight of springs on them, 
they will keep their places and wear much longer with- 
out the necessity of any repairs. 

The subscriber would respectfully inform the publick, 
that he has now on hand a number of carriages fitted 
with those main or axletree springs, which are now 
ready for sale or the inspection of all those who wish 
to have occular demonstration of the excellence of 
the main or axletree spring. He would also inform 
them that he is willing to dispose of patent rights to 
states, districts, counties, or towns, throughout the 
union, and that he now has a number of springs for 
sale. 

All which is respectfully suomitted to the publick, 
}fy the patentee. 

JONATHAN MIX. 



0*N FRUIT TREES, 79 



ACCOUNT OF A METHOD 

OF PREVENTING THE PREMATURE DECAY OF FRUIT TREES** 
BY JOHN ELLIS, OF NEW JERSEY. 

Pl^OM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAIx 

SOCIETY. " 

THE decay of peach trees is owing to a worm, 
which originates from a large fly, that resembles the 
common wasp : this fly perforates the bark, and deposits 
an egg in the moist or sappy part of it. The most com- 
mon place of perforation is at the surface of the earthy 
and, as soon as the worm is able to move, it descends 
into the earth, probably from an instinctive effbrt to 
avoid the winter's frost. This may be ascertained by 
observation, the track of the worm from the seat of the 
egg being visible at its beginning, and gradually increas- 
ing, in correspondence with the increasing size of the 
worm ; its Course is always downwards. The progress 
of the young worm is extremely slow ; and if the egg is 
deposited at any considerable distance above the surface 
of the earth, it is long before the worm reaches the 
ground. The worms are unable to bear the cold of win- 
ter unless covered by the earth, and all that are above 
ground after frost are killed. 

By this history of the origin, progress and nature of 
the insect, we can explain the effects of my method, 
which is as follows. In the spring, when the blossoms 
are out, clear away the dirt so as to expose the root of 
the tree, to the depth of three inches : surround the tree 
with straw, about three feet long, applied lengthwise, so 
that it may have a covering one inch thick, which ex- 
tends to the bottom of the hole, the but-ends of the straw 
resting upon the grouad at the bottom. Bind this straw 
round the tree with three bands, one near the top, one 
at the middle, and the third at the surface of the earth ; 
then fill up the hole at the root with earth, and press 



* This and the following paper having been transmitted by candi- 
dates for the premium which was offered by the American Philosophi- 
cal Society, *' for the best method of preventing- the premature decay 
cf Peach Trees," were considered as very deserving of publick atten- 
ton. It was therefore determined that the premium of sixty dollars 
should be divided between their respective authors. 



80 ON TH£ CULTIVATION Of PEAeH TREES. 

it closely round the straw. When the white-frosts ap- 
pear, the straw should be removed, and the tree should 
remain uncovered until the blossoms put out in the 
spring. 

By this process the fly is prevented from depositing 
its egg within three feet of the root, and although it 
may place the egg above that distance, the worm tra- 
vels so slow that it cannot reach the ground before 
frost, and therefore is killed before it is able to in- 
jure the tree. 

The truth of the principle is proved by the following 
fact. I practised this method with a large number of 
peach trees, and they flourished remarkably, without any 
appearance of injury from the worm, for several years. I 
was then induced to discontinue the straw with about 
twenty of them. All those which are xvithout the straw 
ha^oe declined^ while the others^ which have h-ad the straii^, 
continue, as vigorous as ever. 



DESCRIPTION OF A METHOD 

OF CULTIVATING PEACH TREES, WITH A VIEW TO PREVENT 
THEIR PREMATURE DECAY ; CONFIRMED BY THE EXPERI- 
ENCE OF FORTY FIVE YEARS, IN DELAWARE STATE, AND 
THE WESTERN PARTS OF PENNSYLVANIA. BY THOMAS 
COULTER, ESqUIRE, OF BEDFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 

r'aOM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL 

SOCIETY. 

THE death of young peach trees is principally ow- 
ing to planting, transplanting, and pruning ^/zd* same stocky 
which occasions it to be open and tender, with a rough 
bark, in consequence of which insects lodge and breed in 
it, and birds search after them, whereby wounds are 
made, the gum exudes, and in a few years the tree is 
useless. To prevent this, transplant your trees as young 
as possible, if in the kernel it will be best, as there will 
then be no check of growth. Plant them sixteen feet 
apart. Plow and harrow between them, for two years, 
without regard to wounding them, but avoid tearing 
them up by the roots. In the month of March or April, 
in the third year after transplanting, cut them all off by 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF PEACH TREES. . 81 

the ground, plow and harrow among them as before, but 
with great care, to avoid wounding or tearing them. 
Suffer all the sprouts or scions to grow, even if they 
should amount to half a dozen or more, they become 
bearing trees almost instantaneously, on account of the 
strength of the root. Allow no animals but hogs to en- 
ter your orchard, for fear of their wounding the shoots, 
as a substance drains away through the least wound, which 
is essential to the health of the tree, and the good quality 
t)f the fruit. 

If the old stock is cut away the third year after trans- 
planting, no more shoots will come to maturity than the 
old stump can support and nourish, the remainder will 
die before they bear fruit, and may be cut away, taking 
care not to wound any other stock. The sprouts when 
loaded with fruit will bend, and rest on the ground in 
every direction for many years, all of them being rooted 
as if they had been planted, their stocks remaining tough, 
and their bark smooth, for twenty years and upwards. If 
any of the iprouts from the old stump should happen to 
split off and die, cut them away, they will be supplied 
from the ground by others, so that you may have trees 
from the same for 100 years, as I believe. I have now 
trees from one to thirty-six years old, all from the same 
stump. Young trees, formed in this manner, will bear 
fruit the second year ; but this fruit will not ripen so 
early as the fruit on the older trees from the same stump. 
Three years after the trees are cut off, the shoots will be 
sufficiently large and bushy to shade the ground so as to 
prevent the growth of grass, that might injure the trees : 
therefore ploughing will be useless, and may be injurious 
by wounding them. It is also unnecesipary to manure 
peach trees, as the fruit of manured trees is always smal- 
ler and inferiour to that of trees which are not manured. 
By manuring you make the peach trees larger, and appa- 
rently more flourishing, but their fruit will be of a bad 
kind, looking as green as the leaves, even when ripe, 
and later than that of trees which have not been manured. 
Peach trees never require a rich soil : the poorer the soil 
the better the fruit : a middling soil produces the most 
bountiful crop. The highest ground is the best for peach 
trees, and the north side of hills is most desirable, as it 
retards vegetation, and prevents the destructive effects of 
late frosts, which occur in the month of April, in Penn- 
sylvania. Convinced, by long experience, of the truth 
of these observations, the author wishes they may be 

M 



82 ON BURNING STUBBXE. 

published for publick benefit, and has been informed, that 
colonel Luther Martin and another gentleman, in the 
lower part of Maryland, have adopted a similar plan with 
great advantage. 

REMARK BY T. G. F. 

' The method here described of managing peach trees 
^ill probably supply some useful hints for the culture of 
apple and other fruit trees. Old orchards might be re- 
newed by cutting away in the proper season the old stocks, 
and leaving the most vigorous sprout to renew the stock, 
or making use of the stump to ingraft upon ; if the fruit be 
not of the best quality. New varieties of fruit, however, 
ought to be occasionally sought for from the seeds, as 
ingrafted fruits in process of time degenerate. A valu- 
able paper on this latter subject may be found in the 
Transactions of the Society for the Encouragement of 
Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, written by Thomas 
Skyp Dyot Bucknall, Esquire, and republished in thp 
Repertory of Arts. 2d Series, vol. 2. p. 361. 



BURNING STUBBLE. 

BY MR. W. CURTIS.- — COM. BD. AGR. I80o. 

MR. W. CURTIS, of Lynn, Norfolk, found very 
beneficial effects from burning the stubble of oats, 
which was left eighteen inches high for this purpose, 
on a field broken up from old pasture the same year ; 
he afterwards sowed wheat and oats in succession on 
the same ground, the stubble of both which was burned 
in the same manner. The ashes were in every case 
ploughed in to a small depth, and the verges of the 
field mowed previous to the burning, to prevent acci- 
dents. After the third crop of corn, all of which 
were abundant and remarkably free from weeds, the 
field was laid down with clover and grass seeds, and 
the ensuing crops of both hay and grass proved infinite- 
ly finer than those before the ground was broken up. 
Another piece of land was cropped for three succes- 
sive years, in the same manner as the first, to v/hich 



ON PARING AND BXrftNING* ^3 

it was similar in every respect of soil, aspect^ and 
previous management, but in which the stubble was 
ploughed in, instead of being burned ; the produce 
of each crop on it was much inferiour to that of the 
first experiment, and the weeds increased so greatly, 
that on laying it down to grass, they overpowered the 
grass seeds so much that it was necessary to re-sow 
it ; and ever after, while Mr. Curtis held it, the grass 
and hay produced were coarse and full of weeds, and 
consequently inferiour both in value and quantity to 
those of the other field, on which the stubble had been 
burned. 

OBSERVATION. 

This is an additional proof to those giveti in the for- 
mer number of this work, of the meliorating quality 
of carbonaceous matter to land, and the great benefit 
of burning, both in producing this matter, and extir- 
pating weeds in the most effectual manner. 

REMARK BY T. G. F. 

In burning stubble, the danger which is to be appre^ 
hended from the spreading of the flames, may perhaps 
be obviated by tracing a furrow round the field, and 
setting fire to the stubble on the inner edge of the filr- 
row. 



ACCOUNT OF COMMUNICATIONS 

no THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, ON PARING AND BWR^* 
INO. PUBLISHED, 1805. RET*. OF DISC* 

THE result of twenty-seven communications to the 
Board of Agriculture on paring and burning, have beeo. 
all greatly favourable to this practice. Almost all 
kinds of soils have been tried in this manner, in va- 
rious counties in England and Wales. It may be use- 
ful to enumerate the different soils mentioned in the 
reports, some of which soils are of that nature on which 
the practice has been esteemed most doubtful, and y^t 



84 ON PARING AND BtRNlN^G. 

on all it Avas followed by uniform and decided advan-. 
tage. The soils mentioned are clay, clay and chalk, 
poor old clay, clay sand and loam, clay moors and heaths, 
strong wet land, sand, thin skinned warren^ poor graveU 
ly heathy heath, stone brush and light loam, loams, 
loam gravel and rich land, loam on lime, stone, chalk, 
chalk heaths, downs, fens, peat, rushy pastures, old 
pasture, and rough uncultivated ground. The expe- 
riment made on this matter by Mr. Wright, of Pick- 
worth, is one of the most remarkable ; he broke up 
sixteen acres of gravelly heath, and though he managed 
it in the best manner possible, by tillage alone, lost four 
crops in succession, through the ravages of grubs, wire 
worms, and other insects, always abundant in unculti- 
vated dry ground ; he afterwards broke up twenty-four 
acres of the same gravelly heath, which he pared and 
burned, which produced a most plentiful crop of turnips, 
and another equally good of barley, and remained in 
the most favourable state for laying down to grass with 
oats. An experiment on a small scale, made by the 
reverend G. Swayne, near Bristol, also deserves notice : 
a lump of ferruginous yelloAv clay was put into a coal 
fire till it was red hot j when cold, the outside was red 
for half an inch in depth, and the inside black ; it was 
then bruised down to the consistence of coarse sand, 
put in a drinking-glass, and moistened with rain water ; 
some of the unburned earth was placed in a glass, and 
managed afterwards in the same manner ; in both were 
sown a few grains of wheat and mustard seeds. The 
seeds in the burned earth vegetated speedily and vigo- 
rously, while not a single seed sprouted in the unburned 
earth. 

Most of the reports agree in the benefit derived from 
the actual heat of the fires to the ground, as well as from 
the ashes, the spots where the fire lay were uniformly the 
most fertile, though the ashes were carefully scraped ofl:^ 
them • for this reason several recommend to make the 
heaps small, that they may be the more numerous. The 
ashes of small heaps were also found to be the most 
meliorating; the reporters observe that they were al- 
ways black, while those of the large heaps, where the 
fire was powerful, Avere red ; which farther confirms what 
has been mentioned in the former Number of this Work, 
of the advantage of burning so as to produce the most 
carbonaceous matter. 



DESCRIPTION OF A BOILER 85 



DESCRIPTION OF A BOILER. 

INVENTED BY COUNT RUMFORD, PRESENTED TO THE FRENCH 
NATIONAL INSTITUTE. AIKIN's ATHENEUM. 

THE boiler of the new construction which count Rum- 
ford tried was made on a small scale, being a copper cy- 
linder only twelve inches in diameter, and as many in 
height, closed at top and bottom with circular plates. 
From the bottom seven tubes projected downward, each 
nine inches long, and three inches across, open next the 
cavity of the boiler and closed at their farther extremi- 
ties ; from the top of the boiler a short tube arose, six 
inches in diameter, and three inches high, shut at the 
top by a copper plate, through which passed one tube for 
the safety-valve, another to convey the steam where 
wanted, and a third to admit water from the reservoir 
to supply the evaporation ; this last tube passed down- 
wards to within an inch of the bottom plate, where it was 
furnished with a cock and floating ball, that was so placed 
as to keep the water six inches deep in the cavity of the 
boiler above that in the tubes. The furnace in which 
this boiler was placed was of sheet iron three inches 
high, and seventeen inches in diameter, lined with ma- 
sonry, which is not particularly described ; but as the 
grate is mentioned to be but six inches in diameter, it is 
probable that the cavity of the fire-place was of a conical 
shape from it to the bottom of the seven tubes. 

Count Rumford reports that the boiler exceeded his 
expectation, which of course must have been to produce 
much steam with little fuel ; but no particulars are re- 
cited of any experiments made to determine the eifect of 
the boiler in this respect; he supposes that a boiler made 
in this form would have more strength, in proportion to 
the surface exposed to the same internal pressure, than 
€>ne of the usual shape, and that it would be less liable 
to loss of heat from cold air coming in contact with its 
external surface. 

When a boiler of this kind is constructed on a large 
scale, the count mentions that the seven descending 
tubes may be made of cast iron, and the rest of the boiler 
sheet iron, or copper; and thinks that, when of this con- 
struction, it will cost less than one of equal surface of 
the usual form. But he adds, in corroboration of the 
result of former experience, that in all cases where it is- 



96 DESCaiPTION 01- A PATENT BOILIR'. 

required to produce a great quantity of steam, it will al- 
ways be preferable to employ several boilers of a mid- 
dling size, placed beside each other, and heated each by 
a separate fire, instead of using one large boiler. 



DESCRIPTION 



OF Ma. Lloyd's patent boiler for quick boiling aIsd 

SAVING fuel. AIKIn's ATHENEUM. 

THE bottom of each of Mr. Lloyd's boilers is intro- 
verted, so as to form a cavity which would nearly hold 
as much as the boiler itself, if it were reversed ; the sides 
of this cavity are somewhat conoidal, and from the top a 
pipe passes out at one side through the cavity of the 
boiler to the air; the whole boiler or kettle, is sur- 
rounded by an external case, a little distant from it all 
round, closed at top, and having a small opening at the 
side to give vent to the smoke. The small pipe adds 
somewhat to the effect, but is not absolutely necessary. 
For large boilers the cavity at the bottom need not be so 
large in proportion as that described, if it rises into the 
boiler, a third of its depth, it will probably be sufficient. 
The flame and radiant heat of the fuel is reverberated in 
all directions in the cavity of the hollow bottom, and 
must have much more effect than what can be produced 
by its unconfined lateral action against the external sides 
of a number of upright pipes however well arranged. 



WOOUEN MATCHlfis. SjT 



ACCOUNT OF A SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT 

IN MAKING SOAP BY THE OPERATION OF STEAM, INSTEAD OF 
AN 0P1:N FIRE. COMMUNICATED BY COUNT RUMFORD TO 
THE FRENCH NATIONAL INSTITUTE. AIKIN's ATHENEUM. 

THE Steam was conveyed into the vessel, which 
contained the lie and other materials for the soap, by a 
pipe arising from a close boiler, and again descending 
into the vessel; the action of the steam in condensing im 
the cold lie, occasioned a succession of smart shocks, si- 
milar to blows of a hammer, which caused the whole ap- 
paratus to tremble, but which gradually subsided as the 
liquid became warm. Count Rumford supposes, that 
the beneficial action of the steam depends for the most 
part on the motion described, caused by it, and therefore 
proposes dividing the vessel into two parts by a horizon- 
tal partition of thin copper, and causing a slow current of 
cold water to pass through the lower division, and to let 
the steam into this lower part, when the upper became 
too hot to admit of a continuation of the strokes from the 
condensation of the stream : by which means the same 
motion being continued in the cold water, would be com- 
municated to the hot liquid through the thin partition. 

The soap made by the operation of the steam, requirell 
only six hours boiling, whereas sixty hours and more ar>e 
necessary in the ordinary method of making soap. 



WOODEN MATCHES, 



INVENTED BY C. L. CADET, SUPERIOUR TO ROPE MATCHES 
OR PORT FIRES. ANNALES DE CHEMIE, SEPT. 1806. 

THE common rope match, impregnated with salt- 
petre, used for discharging cannon and mortars, requires 
constant attendance, as it must be unrolled from the staff 
every hour or oftener : a heavy rain puts it out, and the 
end beyond the staff is not always steady, which causes 
delay in firing the piece. On these accounts it is but 
seldom used, except to carry fire to the field where pgit 
fires are used. 



88 WOODEN MATCHES. 

The port fires, composed of paper tubes filled with a 
mixture of sulphur, salt-petre, and a little gunpowder, 
are very apt to throw off burning particles of saltpetre to 
a considerable distance, which renders them very dange- 
rous particularly aboard ships, on which account they are 
usually kept in them in the middle of a tub of wate^ . 

Messrs. Proust and Bordahad proposed to the Spanish 
government, to use wooden rods steeped in a solution of 
nitrate of pot-ash, well dried, instead of the matches 
described ; Mr. Cadet was informed that these rods 
burned like touchwood, forming a pointed red coal at 
their ends, and that the trials with them succeeded per- 
fectly, though they had not been adopted. He informed 
the French minister at war of these circumstances, who 
directed him to make the necessary experiments to prove 
the utility of the wooden matches, in conjunction with 
captain Lespagnol of the artillery. 

The experiments were tried with various kinds of 
wood impregnated with the different nitrates, of pot-ash, 
of copper, and of lead. Of the woods tried, lime was the 
best, and next to it birch and poplar ; the rods steeped 
in solution of saltpetre did not succeed; the nitrate of 
copper corroded the boilers, caused a noxious fume, and 
was dear. The nitrate of lead was superiour to the 
other salts in its effects for the purpose wanted, was not 
attended with any of the defects of the last, and is more 
easily reducible when in contact with burning charcoal. 
M. Cadet attributes the inferiority of the salt petre to 
the large quantity of water of crystallization which it 
retains. 

It was found that square rods burned better than 
round, as their angles caused the coal in the centre to 
burn more vividly, and they always terminated in a burn- 
ing cone two inches long. 

A yard of this wooden match will burn for three hours, 
whereas the port fire will not last more than three or 
four minutes : the wooden match is strong and easily 
carried about ; the port fire is liable to break, to throw 
otit dangerous sparks in burning, and costs from three 
pence to four-pence halfpenny : the match confines its 
fire to itself and costs about three halfpence. The sa- 
ving, therefore, in the use of these matches must be a 
most material object added to their other advantages 
over the port fires ; for the wooden match in burning 
will cost but three halfpence in an hour, aad the port fire 
will cost no less than five shillings in tfte same time. 



OF THE FABRICATION OF SULPHURICK ACID. S^ 

The method of preparing the matches which M, Cadet 
found to be the best, is the following. 

The rods after being cut half an inch square, were 
stored for some months to dry them, and afterwards ex- 
posed half a day in a stove heated to 30*. (probably of 
Reaumer, and may be equal to about 100 Fahrenheits.) 
They should then be boiled six hours in a bath of nitrate 
of lead, composed of a quart of water to every pound of 
the nitrate ; which salt is best prepared by pouring 416 
parts of nitrick acid at 40°. and of the specifick gravity of 
1.386, diluted with 128 parts of water, on 500 parts of 
litharge in a glass or earthen vessel : which should be 
heated till the oxide was dissolved, and then filtered and 
evaporated to dryness. 

The matches should, after this, be again carried to the 
stove and made thoroughly dry, and then be boiled in 
spirits of turpentine, which should be poured over them 
in the boiler so as to cover them about an inch ; the boiler 
should be then gently heated, till the oil of turpentine 
began to boil, but the moment it grew white and rose 
up, the cover should be put on the boiler, and it should be 
removed from the fire ; the boiling should be repeated 
three times, which would take about half an hour each 
time ; when cool, the matches should be taken out, well 
wiped, and again dried in the stove, and they will be St 
for use. 



THEORY OF THE FABRICATION 

©P SULPHURieK ACID, BY MESSRS. DESORMES AND GLEjlENX^ 
ANNALES DE CHEMIE, T. 59. 

IN this paper the common opinions relative to the 
operation of the nitre, when burned along with sulphur 
to produce sulphurick acid, in the usual mode of fabri- 
cating this most useful agent in numerous processes of 
the arts, are shown to be erroneous. It is stated that 
the nitre cannot increase the temperature of the burning 
sulphur, to which its efficacy is attributed by some, as 
the clay and water mixed with them in the process must 
prevent this effect ; and that the supply of oxygen from 
the nitre, which most suppose to be the cause of its bene^ 

N 



90 OF THE FABRICATION OF SULPHURICK ACIlTc. 

ficial operation, is too small to convert the sulphurous 
acid produced into the sulphurick, as nitre, from Davy's 
experiments, contains but 0.21, of oxygen, while sulphu- 
rick acid contains no less than 0.48, oxygen ; and the 
ninth part of nitre, commonly used with the sulphur, 
could not supply more than a tenth part of this quantity^ 

The ingenious theory of the authors is founded on 
the well known property which nitrous acid gas has of 
attracting oxygen from the atmospherick air, by which it 
becomes converted into nitrick acid gas. They state, 
that in the combustion of the sulphur and nitre, sulphu- 
rous acid, and nitrous acid gas, are evolved, with water 
in vapour and some uncombined oxygen. The nitrous 
acid gas being converted into nitrick acid gas, by attract- 
ing oxygen from the air of the chamber, then parts with 
its oxygen to the sulphurous acid gas, and converts it into 
sulphurick acid, which the condensation of the aqueous 
vapour, by the cold of the chamber, causes to fall down. 
The nitrick acid gas is thus again coverted into nitrous 
acid gas, and this again attracts more oxygen from the 
atmospherick air, yields it to the sulphurous acid gas 
remaining, and thus produces another precipitation of 
sulphurick acid, but in smaller quantity than the first. 

The nitrous acid thus acts as an intermediate substance 
to attract oxygen from atmospherick air, for the conver- 
sion of the sulphurous gas into sulphurick acid : while 
the aqueous vapour, though not absolutely necessary, 
assists the process by separating the nitrick from the sul- 
phurick acid, by the commotion which its precipitation 
causes among the gasses, and by assisting the evolution 
of the nitrous acid gas ; and its utility has been so much 
perceived that a quantity is now introduced by exhala- 
tions from the hearth, besides that arising from the hu- 
midity of the mixture. 

A caution is given against permitting too much con« 
tact between the gasses and the water added, either by 
admitting too great a quantity, or by the great agitation 
of a little ; as this woukl occasion the formation of ni- 
trick acid, which retaining its state, would have very 
little action on the sulphurous gas. 

The authors have confirmed this theory by accurate 
experiments to prove the separate facts stated in it ; it 
promises to be of much utility to the manufacture of 
sulphurick acid, which is so largely carried on in various 
parts of this kingdom, as the extent and form of the 
leiiden chambers, and the management of the fire must 



t)N DURABLE WHITEWASH AND DRYING OILS. 91 

be influenced by the hypothesis : It also promises ac- 
cording to the authors, the still more important advan- 
tage of saving almost the whole of the nitre. 

Those chymists who cannot conveniently procure the 
original work from which this extract is taken, will find 
it translated in Nicholson's Phil. Jour. No. 71. and we 
highly recommend the study of it, and further prosecu- 
tion of the experiments mentioned in it, to all manufactu- 
rers of sulphurick acid. 



:.'i r.jL, 



METHOD 

OF RENDERING WHITEWASH MADE WITH LIME DURABLE ; 
ALSO, A METHOD OF MAKING A COMPOSITION TO BE USED 
AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR DRYING OILS. BY GENERAL LEVA- 
VASSEUR. 

FROM THE ANNALES DES ARTS ET MANUrACTURES. 

I AM enabled to certify the efficacy of marine salt 
in fixing whitewash made of lime. In the year 1795, 
when I was director ot the naval artillery at the port of 
Toulon, I was commissioned to ascertain the utility of 
a method proposed by the master painter of that port, 
M. Maquilan, for whitewashing ships between decks, 
and likewise their holds, in a durable manner, by means 
of lime. Our report was in favour of this process, 
which consists in saturating the water in which the 
lime is slaked with muriate of soda. The whitewash 
produced by it is very permanent, does not crack, nor 
come off upon one's hands or clothes. The experiment 
was made only on wood. It appears, from M. St. Ber- 
nard's account, that it succeeded equally well on walls. 
The same worthy and learned man says, that this is not 
the case with M. Cadet de Vaux's whitewash, prepared 
with milk :^ which many persons of my acquaintance, 
who have used it, have found not to answer, as humi- 
dity affects that composition very much. 



* Published in the 15th Tolume of the first series of the Reper^ 
tory of Arts, pag-e 411. 



93 ON DURABLE WHITEWASH AND DRYING OIJCs, 

I find in my notes the composition of a liquid mix- 
ture, invented in 1795 by the same Maquilan, as a sub- 
stitute for drying oils, of which the port of Toulon was 
actually destitute at that period. As I was an eye wit- 
ness of the preparation and application of this mixture, 
I can answer for its success. 

Take 16 lbs. of spirit of turpentine and 3 lbs. of tal- 
low. First melt the tallow by itself; take the vessel 
from the fire, pour into it the spirit of turpentine, which 
must previously be warmed : put the vessel again on the 
fire, and, after boiling half an hour, proceed to a second 
operation. 

Take 12 lbs. of spirit of turpentine and 12 lb. 
of dry pitch and tar altogether into the second vessel, 
and set it on the fire. When the pitch and tar are dis- 
solved, pour the solution into a third vessel together 
with the first solution of tallow and spirit of turpentine^ 
which must be kept hot for that purpose : set the 
mixture again on the fire, and boil it for a quarter of 
an hour j this mixture is then used to grind the colours 
on marble, for a future supply. 

A second solution of spirits and dry pitch and tar 
is prepared, and put by to dilute the colours ground 
and prepared as above, when they are wanted for use. 
Colours thus prepared, are equally applicable for wood 
or cloth, « 

Colours mixed up with this composition dry in less 
than four hours in the shade ; but if exposed to the 
sun, they the following day discover a little viscosity, 
and stick to the fingers. However, this is only a 
temporary defect, for in four or five days the compo- 
sition becomes so dry that the sun cannot afterwards 
soften it. 

White lead and minium cannot be used with this 
composition, because they become hard the moment 
you attempt to dilute them ; this effect is not produced 
with ochres, nor with lampblack. 

I need not say that I do not communicate this as 
an economical process, but there may be occasions 
when the oils generally employed in painting cannot 
be procured ; and it is then fortunate to have a substi- 
tute at hand. 

It should be observed, that general Levavasseur is 
not the only one who complains of the whitewash pre- 
p^ed with milk. However, it is certain that M. Cadet 



ON permznti'ng flour. 9j^ 

de Vaux has himself used it at Franconville, and other 
places ; and we are inclined to think, that in describing 
the process he has forgot some circumstances that might 
probably appear of no consequence ; some details which 
he imagined every one capable of supplying. It is well 
known, that the success of an experiment depends on 
the complete combination of all its component partS;, 
and that the omission of even the most trifling quan- 
tity produces errours in calculation. 



METHOD 



OF FERMENTING A LARGE BODY OF FLOUR WITH A SMALL 
QUANTITY OF YEAST. BY MR. JAMES STONE, OF AMPQRT, 
HAMPSHIRE. REPERTORY OF ARTS., 



SUPPOSE you want to bake a bushel of bread, 
and have not more than one tea-spoon full of yeast ; 
put the flour into a kneading trough, and take about 
three quarters of a pint of warm water, and the tea- 
spoon full of yeast, which if thick and steady the bet- 
ter ; put it into the water, and stir it until it is thorough- 
ly mixed ; then make a hole in the middle of the flour 
large enough to contain two gallons of water ; pour in 
your small quantity of yeast, mixed with water as above; 
then take a stick, about two feet long, and stir in some 
of the flour until it is as thick as you would make bat- 
ter for a pudding : strew some of the dry flour over it, 
and let it rest for about an hour, for in that time you 
will find this small quantity raised so that it will break 
through the dry flour which you shook over it; then 
pour in about a quart more of warm water, and stir 
it with your stick as before, and leave it for two hours 
more ; you will find it rise, or break through the dry 
flour again ; then add three quarts or a gallon more of 
warm water, and stir in the flour again ; and in about 
three or four hours mix up the dough, and cover it 
warm. In four or five hours more you may put it into 
the oven, and you will have as light bread as though 
you had used a pint of yeast. It does not take above a 



k4> on FERMENTING FLOUJl. 

quarter of an hour more time than the usual way of 
baking: for there is no time lost but that of adding wa- 
ter three or four times. When you find your body of 
flour spunged large enough, before you put in the rest 
of the water, you should, with both hands, mix that 
which is spunged and the dry flour altogether, and 
then add the remainder of warm water, and your dough 
will rise the better and easier. The author asserts, 
that he constantly bakes this way ; in the morning, 
about six or seven o'clock, he begins his first operation ; 
in an hour's time he adds more water ; in two hours 
more a greater quantity ; about noon makes up the 
dough, and about six in the evening it is put into the 
oven ; and that he has always good bread, never heavy, 
nor bitter. He adds, that the cause of heavy bread is 
not owing to the smallness of the quantity of yeast 
used, but to its not being used properly, for yeast is to 
flour what fire is to fuel — a spark of the latter will 
kindle a large body by only blowing it up ; so a thim- 
ble full of the former, by adding warm water to it, 
will raise or spunge almost any quantity of flour. 

Thus heavy bread is not owing to a deficiency in 
the quantity of yeast used, but to a deficiency of fer- 
mentation ; for, if the dough is put into the oven before 
it is ripe, heavy bread is the natural consequence. 

In regard to the difference of seasons, he prescribes 
that in summer the water should be blood warm, and 
in cold frosty weather as warm as you can bear your 
hand in it without making it smart ; taking care in win- 
ter to cover up your dough. 



AN BLEAeHINet* Q^ 



ON THE BLEACHING POWDER 



OF TENANT AND KNOX, OF SCOTLAND. BY M. ALTON.— ANN, 

CHEM. VOL. 534 

. ' .''.>'.'/.'.■. ^ ■ • ■ ' • 

THE discovery of oxygenated muriatick acid by 
Scheele, has added great light to chymistry. The fine 
experiments of M. Berthollet on this substance, and his 
application of it to the arts, are known to all Europe. 
Nevertheless, his proceedings, as he himself acknow- 
ledged, were open to improvement in the bleaching de- 
partment: how injurious the vapour of this acid is to the 
workmen when they operate on a large scale, all have 
experienced who have established bleaching houses on 
Berthollet's principles. To remedy the great volatility 
of the acid, potash, lime, and other matters have beea 
used ; and hence has proceeded the javelle lie, which is 
now in common use for domestick purposes. Ma^y En- 
glish Chymists have proposed a super-oxygenated muri- 
ate of lime, to simplify Berthollet's mode of bleaching, 
of which the latter has given an account in his last edition 
of his Art of Dying. Many who have bleaching hou- 
ses on Berthollet's plan, have tried all these methods, 
but have found nothing that answered their purpose so 
well as the powder of Tenant and Knox. The disco- 
very of the composition of this powder was made by M. 
Alyon through the following circumstances. 

Before the war, large quantities of the above powder 
were exported to the continent. A Belgian bleacher, 
who had a large establishment at Brussels, bought two 
hundred weight of it; but he had hardly used it before 
Messrs. Tenant aud Knox informed him, by letter, that 
the exportation was prohibited, and that therefore they 
could send him no more. Shortly after, he came to 
Paris, and brought w^ith him a few ounces of this powder, 
which remained, and gave it to one of M. Alyon's 
friends, who interested himself about bleaching concerns 
also : these gentlemen analysed this powder, and were 
convinced that it consisted of a mixture of super-oxyge- 
nated muriate of soda and of lime. Messrs. Tenant' and 
Knox composed it with one third of muriate of soda and 
two thirds of lime slacked in water, and dried, which 
they saturated with oxygenated muriatick acid gas ; but 
M.. Alvon's friend was convinced that the lime was in 



96 ^N BLEACKING. 

too great a proportion, and he fixed the relative quantify 
ties of the composition as follows : 

Muriate of soda 15 pounds. 

Sulphurick acid diluted with one half water 10 
Oxyd of manganese -- -- - - - -5 

This was put altogether into a large matrass of glass, ta 
which was fitted a tube of glass or lead, which was made 
to descend into a vessel of earthenware or wood, some 
pebbles were placed about the lower orifice of the tube, 
to prevent its being closed up, the tube was luted to the 
matrass, and there was put into the vessel round about 
the tube, a mixture of three pounds of lime slacked, and 
well dried, and of eight pounds of sea-salt grossly poun- 
ded: the matrass was heated in a sand bath, and when 
the gas began to be disengaged, the powder was stirred 
with a wooden spatula, and absorbed the gas as fast as 
it came over. When no more gas passed, the operation 
ended, the powder was then put up in a barrel, or in glass 
bottle^. It very strongly attracts the moisture of the 
air ; when an ounce or two of it is put into a large glass 
of water, it throws out a sufficient quantity of oxygenated 
muriatick gas, to form a good anti-contagious fumiga- 
tion ; but more gas would be disengaged, if a few drops 
of acid of vitriol were put into the water which holds the 
powder in solution. As to domestick purposes it is of 
great utility. Two ounces of this powder in a pint of 
common water, with eight drops of vitriolick acid, sur- 
passes in quality a pint of the javelle liquor in its bleach- 
ing qualities. The cheapness of its preparation ought to 
render its use more extensive ; those, in France, who do 
not choose to be at the trouble of making it, M. Alyon 
adds, may buy it ready prepared at M. Fouques's bleach 
house in Paris, and that he thinks he has done a publick 
service in relating the method of making it, as the En- 
glish keep it a secret. 

OBSERVATIONS BY THE EDITORS OF THE RETROSPECT 
OF DISCOVERIES. 

The last remark of M. Alyon is not correct. Messrs. 
Tenant and Knox took a patent for their composition, 
and of course were obliged to make it publick, by regis- 
tering the specification in Chancery, and which has been 
published in the Repertory of Arts, Vol. IX. first series ; 
their patent right was afterwards set aside by a legal de- 
cision against them, for an account of which see also Re- 
pertory of Arts, Vol. 11. new series ; and the publick are 



BUTCH METHOD OF CURING HERRINGS. 97 

therefore at liberty to use it freely. Perhaps M. Alyon's 
method of making it may be more expedient than that 
mentioned in the specification of the patent, and there- 
fore we insert this paper. 



DUTCH METHOD OF CURING HERRINGS. 

TRANS. SOC. ARTS. 

THE busses employed in the fishery carry from 48 to 
60 tons, in general, though some are used from that size 
to 120 tons. The crews of the larger sort consist of 24 
men, of the smaller l8. 

The nets are cast in the evening, and drawn up in the 
morning, which last operation takes three hours. From 
the net the fish are put into baskets. 

Twelve of the crew are employed in gutting, salting, 
and packing ; which they can complete for but five last 
of herrings in a day, though sometimes fifteen last are 
taken in the same time : at this time the guts and gills 
are taken out, but the roe or milt is always left with the 
fish. What are taken during one night, are, before the 
following sun-set, neatly and skilfully packed in oaken 
casks, with Spanish or Portuguese bay salt strewed be- 
tween them. 

The Dutch catch their fish regularly and early off 
Hittland, from the 25th of June to the 16th of July, be- 
cause they are then fattest ; after which the^^iearer they, 
approach the coast, the leaner and worse they are. Du- 
ring this time all the fresh caught herrings are thrown 
into casks without pickling, and conveyed to Holland in 
the jagers or yachts that accompany the herring busses ; 
but, after this period, immediately on being got on board 
and gutted, they are sorted into three qualities, maiden 
herrings, full herrings, and shot herrings. The first are 
those taken earliest, which, though well flavoured, do not 
keep : full herrings are these taken at Midsummer, on 
the point of spawning : the brand herrings (so called from 
the barrels which contain them being marked with a hot 
iron) are of the same kind as these latter, but so well 
packed on the^.r arrival, and so close and hard pressed 
down, that they do not require repacking at other places, 

o 



08 dVtch method of curing herrings» ^- 

but only new pickle ; whereas the other sorts, not being 
so closely laid, must absolutely be re-packed. Shot her- 
rings are those which have spawned, and are consequently 
thin and lean. With the two last sorts, the busses return 
to port as soon as they have got their loading, or find no 
more fish. Here, all, except the brand herrings, are 
opened, salted anew, repacked, and so pressed that the 
contents of fourteen casks are repacked in twelve, which 
makes a last. This repacking, by law, must be performed 
in publick, where strict watch is kept that the spoiled 
fish be carefully separated from the good, and the lat- 
ter thoroughly pressed down and properly laid in the 
barrels. 

The Dutch fishery continues from the 25th of June to 
the 25th of July on the Scotch and English coasts, off 
Hittland, Fairhill, and Bocken ; and from thence to the 
14th of September off Bocken or Serenial ; and in the 
deep water off Yarmouth, and as far as the mouth of the 
Thames, till the 25th of November, when the regular 
fishery ceases: but herrings are found off Yarmouth till 
the end of January, after which the fishery is prohibited, 
as the spawning season then commences. 

There are two methods of salting herrings, called 
white and red. In the former, the herrings, after being 
gutted and washed, are either put into baskets, and salt 
sprinkled in them, both inside and out, and well shaken 
in the baskets, or else are put in a strong pickle, which is 
preferable, for twelve or fifteen hours, and are well stir- 
red several times, that the salt may penetrate ; they are 
then taken from the pickle, drained, and packed in barrels, 
which are strewed at bottom pretty thickly with salt ; 
and if there be time, they are neatly laid in strata, al- 
ways strewing salt sufficient upon each layer: when the 
fishery is very abundant, this last operation is deferred 
till landing, and in the mean time they are only thrown 
into barrels promiscuously. On landing, they are re- 
packed and sorted, as^before mentioned, and regularly 
coopered, to prevent leaking of the pickle, which spoils 
the fish. Properly, they should be packed after being 
one night in pickle. When this cannot be done, the fish 
do not keep so well, and are reckoned an inferiour sort. 

Fish that cannot be packed in two days after being- 
caught, are salted in large heaps, and are called slabbers^ 
or coarse goods : they are sent home in the schuyts, 
washed and smoked, though not so much as the bicklingSy 
ot" red herrings. The salted herrings hitherto spoken of 



•H SEPARATING AND PRESERVING YEAST. ^9 

are called pickled herrings ; those salted and packed in 
layers, packed or barrelled herrings ; and those half salted 
and promiscuously packed, are called wrack herrings. 

For red salting, the fish must be at least twenty-four 
hours longer in pickle ; are then taken out and hung by 
the head in rows, on wooden poles, in stoves constructed 
for the purpose, each of which generally contains 12,000 
herrings. In those stoves a fire is made under them 
with vine stalks, or any green faggot wood that affords 
much smoke and little flame ; but no deal or other resi- 
nous wood is suffered to be used. Here they remain 
generally twenty-four hours ; and, when they are pro- 
perly smoked, are packed in barrels, and called barrelled 
bicklings^ or red herrings ; but if packed in straw, are 
called straw bicklingSy which are somewhat less salted 
than the others. 

In Holland, the best fish are chosen for smoking : but 
in other places the slabbers, or other inferiour herrings, 
deemed unfit for the usual mode of salting, are only used. 

The best red herrings are called, in German, specks 
buckling : they are cut open along the back. The excel- 
lence of the red herrings consists in being large, fat, ten- 
der, fresh, properly salted, pliable, soft, of the colour of 
gold, and not torn or mangled, 



MODE OF SEPARATING BEER FROM YEAST, 

AND PRESERVING THE YEAST FOR A GREAT LENGTH OF TI]tfE 
AND IN ANY CLIMATE. 

MR. FELTON MATHEW, merchant, London, 
obtained a patent for the above mentioned object, which 
may be found in the Repertory of Arts, vol. v^ p. 
73. Mr. Mathew uses a press, with a lever, the bottom 
made of stout deal, oak, or any other timber fit for the 
purpose, raised with strong feet a convenient height 
from the ground, so as to admit the beer to run off 
into whatever is prepared to receive it. Into the back 
of it is let a strong piece of timber, or any other fit 
material to secure one end of the lever, the top of which 
is secured by being well wedged up to a girder, or the* 
joists at the top of the building^. In tliis piece of tiin«. 



100 ON SEPA-RATINTG AND PRESERVING YEAST. 

ber is mortised one end of the lever, which is fastened 
into the mortise with an iron pin or otherwise properly- 
secured ; the whole well secured with iron work. The 
yeast is then put into bags made of sail cloth, or any 
oth^:r strong cloth or material, and carefully tied or se- 
cured^ then placed flat on the press ; a board is then 
laid on ii:, and the lever let down on it, and weights 
are hung at the other end of the lever by hooks or 
otherwise, and weights are added as the beer runs from 
the bag, care being taken not to burst the bag nor force 
the beer out too thick ; which to prevent, the bag is 
placed in a trough of a proper size, with a false bot- 
tom, bored full of holes (the sides and ends being like- 
wise bored full of holes) and blocks put above for the 
lever to act upon. When a sufficient weight has been 
added so as completely to force the beer out, which may 
be done by a screw press, if necessary, the yeast, which 
remains in the bag will crumble to pieces, like flower. 
It must then be thinly spread upon frames made with 
thin canvass, hair cloth, or any other thing, which 
will permit the heat to pass freely through it, in a room, 
kiln or stove, or other place where a regular heat can 
be kept up to the temperature of from about eighty to 
ninety degrees ; observing to break it fine as it dries, by 
passing a board, or other fit thing lightly over it. When 
completely dry, put it in tight casks, or bottles, so as 
to exclude the air, or any damp, from it, ancj it will 
then keep a great length of time, and in any climate. 
When wanted for use, it may be dissolved in a small 
quantity of warm wort, or sugar and water of the tem- 
perature of from about eighty to ninety degrees, when 
it possesses the same quality as fresh liquid yeast. 



SUBSTANCE OF THE SPECIFICATION 

OF A PATENT GRANTED TO MR. RICHARD TILLYER BLUNT ; 
FOR HIS NEW INVENTED COMPOSITION TO BE USED INSTEAD 
OF YEAST. REPERTORY OF ARTS. 

TO make a yeast gallon of the above mentioned 
composition, containing eight beer quarts, boil in com- 
iXion water eight pounds of potatoes, as for eating j 



CEMENT rOR PRESERVING SHIPS TROM WORMS. iOl 

bruise them perfectly smooth, and mix with them whilst 
warm, two ounces of honey, or any other sweet substance, 
and one quart (being the eighth part of a gallon of 
yeast) of common yeast. And, for making bread, mix 
three beer pints of the above composition with a bushel 
of flour, using warm water in making the bread ; the 
water to be warmer in winter, and the composition to 
be used in a few hours after it is made; and as soon 
as the sponge (the mixture of the composition with the 
flour) begins to fall the first time, the bread should be 
made and put in the oven. 



SUBSTANCE OF THE SPECIFICATION 

OF A PATENT GRANTED TO MR- JOHN WORTH, OF DISS, IK 
THE COUNTY OF NORFOLK, ENGLAND, FOR A PREPARATION 
OR CEMENT FOR PRESERVING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS 
FROM WORMS. 

THIS patentee takes of powdered or small pieces 
of rosin fourteen pounds, sand, sifted and \fashed clean 
from dirt or loam, twenty eight pounds, red lead three 
pounds and a half, oil one pound and three fourths. 
Melt the rosin over a moderate fire, put the sand and 
lead in by degrees, then put in the oil ; when they are 
boiling keep them constantly stirring till cold, that yoi* 
may have a uniform mass. Take of this mass or ce- 
ment such quantity as may suit your purpose, broken 
into small pieces, and to every twelve pounds put in a 
bare half pound of oil. When melted, apply it to what 
you design, cither by pouring it on, or using it with a 
brush, while boiling hot. It is to be observed that your 
oil, to be added to the cement, must be of that sort 
which chymists call fat oil, and that more or less must 
be used as you want the composition to be harder or 
softer. This will be of a reddish colour ; for the white 
and green, ceruse and verdigrise may be used. 



1@2 ON RAISING AND DRESSING HEMP. 



OBSERVATIONS 

•1* THE RAISIKG AND DRESSING OF HEMP. BY EDWARD 
ANTILL, ESQUIRE. 

ASaiDGES FK.OM THE TRANSACTIONS Olf THE AMERICAN PHILO- 
SOPHICAL SOCIETY. 

IN raising hemp it is proper to set aside two pieces 
of ground, of such dimensions each, as it is proposed 
to cultivate every year, and sow the one while the 
other is preparing for the succeeding year's crop. The 
higher and the drier the ground the better, provided 
it be well manured and made strong and mellow. The 
ground should not be too sloping lest the good soil be 
washed away by rains, and it will be an advantage if 
it slope to the south. Low, rich, warm, and dry 
grounds will also produce good hemp, but wet land 
though ever so rich, will not answer the purpose. The 
ground haviig previously been made very mellow, some 
time in May, while in a moist and vegetating state, but 
by no means wet, must be well ploughed, the furrows 
made close and even, and the soil must lie light and 
mellow. I: must then be sown, very even, with two 
bushels of seed upon an acre. A man with an iron 
toothed harrow should follow the sower, and harrow in 
the seed with two horses, without balks, as the less the 
ground is rrampled the better. If harrowing one way 
be not suficient to cover the seed, though it would be 
best if that could be done, it muit be cross harrowed. 
The ground being moist, but by no means so wet as to 
clod, which would ruin the crop, the seed will all 
start and come up together, which is a sure sign of a 
good crop, as nothing after that but too much wet will 
hurt it ; for hemp, thus come up, bids defiance to weeds 
and grass of every kind. Its growth is so quick, and 
it so effectually shades the ground that nothing below 
can rise, or show its head ; and it so preserves all the 
moisture below, that the hotter and drier the weather 
the faster it grows. But if the hemp grov,^s when the 
ground is dry, that which lies deepest where there is 
moisture, will come up first, and these plants will shade 
and starve those which come up after them, by which 
means the former will be much too large and the latter 
too small. The crop rightly managed will/ stand as 



ON RAISING AND DRESSING HEMP. IQ^ 

thick as very good wheat, and be from four to six feet 
high, and the stems not thicker than good wheat straw. 
By these means the hemp will be finer, will yield the 
greater quantity, and may be plucked from the ground, 
like flax, which will be a great saving. If it be sown 
thin, that is one bushel to an acre, it grows large, the hemp 
is coarse and harsh, and it must be cut with hooks, 
which occasions great waste, for four or five inches 
above the ground is left as stubble, which contains 
the best and heaviest part of the hemp. 

When the hemp is fit to be plucked, the leaves of 
the carle, or male hemp, turn yellow and fall off; the 
sooner then it is plucked the better. It must then be 
bound in straw bands rather small than large, and each 
sheaf in two places ; and the sooner it is carried to rot 
the better. Water rotted hemp, if rightly managed is 
every way better than that which is rotted on the ground ; 
there is less waste in it, it looks brighter and fairer, is 
esteemed stronger and more durable, and fetches a 
higher price. Besides it is sooner done and is rotted 
more evenly and wath greater certainty and exactness. 
Hemp may be rotted in stagnated or standing water, 
such as ponds, pools, or broad deep ditches, and in such 
water it is generally four or five days and nights in rot- 
ting, and sometimes longer, according to the tempera** 
ture of the weather. It may be rotted likewise in 
running water, a brook or river, and in such water, 
three or four days and nights are sufficient, according to 
the weather. To know whether the hemp is rotted 
enough, take a middling handful out of the middle row, 
and try with both your hands to snap it asunder; if it 
breaks easy it is rotted enough ; but if it appear pretty 
strong, it must lie longer till it breaks with ease ; then 
it must be taken out and dried as soon as possible. In 
handling the sheaves take them by the bands, and set 
them upright against a fence if one be near, or lay them 
down on the grass, for the water to drain off; then un- 
bind them carefully, open and spread them, that they 
may dry thoroughly ; then bind them again, and house 
them in a dry tight place. 

The reason of handling the hemp in this careful man- 
ner is, that when it is well rotted, while it is wet the 
lint comes off with the slightest touch. Therefore if it 
be handled roughly, or while wet be thrown into a cart, 
and carried any distance to be unbound and dried, it 



104 ON RAISING AND DRESSING HEMP. 

will be greatly injured ; but when dry it may be handled 
without suffering any damage. 

If the hemp be rotted in running water, the sheaves 
must be laid across the stream, for if they be laid down 
lengthways with the stream, the current will wash away 
the lint, and spoil the hemp ; it must be laid down heads 
and points, two, four, or six thick, according to the 
depth of the water, and the quantity of hemp. If the 
bottom be sand, gravel, or mud, three strong stakes 
must be driven down above and below, and three strong 
poles must be laid on the hemp and fastened well to the 
stakes in such manner as to force down the hemp under 
water, where it is to remain until rotted enough ; though 
if a muddy stream could be avoided it would be best, 
because it is apt to foul and stain the hemp. If the 
bottom of the stream be rocky, so that stakes cannot 
be driven, a rough wall must be made at the lower end 
of the hemp and along the side to keep it in ; and 
strong poles or rails must be laid on the top of the hemp, 
and pretty heavy stones upon them, so as to sink the 
hemp under water, where it must lie till rotted enough. 

The hemp intended for seed should be sown on a 
piece of ground by itself, which must be made very 
rich and strong. It must be sown in ridges six feet 
wide ; and the seed must be of the largest and best 
sort, and sown very thin, at the rate of a peck on an 
acre, or rather six quarts. The thinner it is sown the 
more it branches, and the more seed it will bear. It 
should be sown some time about the middle of April, 
and then the seed will not be ripe till some time after 
the other hemp is done with. If you have no convenient 
place to sow your seed hemp by itsjslf, then sow a bor- 
der of six feet wide, along the north and west sides 
of your hemp field. The reason for sowing your seed- 
hemp in such narrow ridges or borders is, that when 
the carle or male hemp is ripe, and has shed its farina on 
the fimble or female hemp (by which the seed is im- 
pregnated) and the leaves of the carle hemp fall off, 
and the stem grows yellow, you may step in along the 
sides, and pull up the carle, without hurting the female, 
which now begins to branch out, and looks of ^a deep 
green colour, and very flourishing : and when the seeds 
begin to ripen, which is known by their falling out 
of their sockets, you may all along on both sides, bend 
down the plants, and shake out the seeds on a cloth 
laid on the ground j for as they ripen they scatter 



ON RAISING AND DRESSING HEMP. 105 

when shaken by a hard wind, or otherwise. Then it 
must be watched, and the fowls and yellow birds kept 
from it, for they are immoderately fond of the seed. 
As the first ripe seeds are the fullest and best, they are 
t^orthy of some pains to save them ; and the best way 
to do that is to bend down the plants all along, on each 
side of the border or ridge, as is said above, and shake 
them over a cloth spread on the ground to receive the 
seed. If one side of the plant be rooted out of the 
ground, by forcing it down to shake out the seed, there 
will be no damage, the seeds that remain will ripen not* 
withstanding : and the plant must be thus shaken every 
two or three days, till all the seeds are ripe and thus 
saved. This is much better than pulling up the plants 
by the roots, and shaking them on a barn floor, and then 
setting them up against a fence by the side of the barn, 
for the seed to ripen, shaking them again morning and 
evening on the barn floor, which is the common practice, 
for by this method one third of the seed at least neve^ 
comes to maturity. 

In the three bread colonies this writer observes that 
the spring and summer seasons have of late become very 
dry ; so that a crop of flax is rendered precarious. But 
hemp does not require half so much rain as flax, and 
the farmer by raising hemp as above stated, and prepa- 
ring it in the best manner for spinning and wearing, can 
with greater certainty supply all his family with good 
cloth, and the overplus will always find a good market. 

The following are the directions of the author for the 
manufacture of hemp. 

If you have a large wide kettle, that will take in your 
hemp at full length, it will be better j but if your kettle 
be small, you must double your hemp, but withoQt twist- 
ing ; only the small ends of every hand must be twisted 
a little to keep them whole and from entangling. Then 
first of all place some smooth sticks at the bott6m of the 
kettle, so as to lie across each other, three or four layers, 
according to the size and depth of your kettle, to keep 
the hemp from touching the liquor. Then pour some 
lie, half as strong as what you make soap of, gently into 
the kettle, not so much as to rise to the top of the sticks, 
they being kept down to the bottom. Then lay in the 
hemp, each layer crossing the other, sothat the steam 
may rise up through the whole body of the hemp, and 
cover your kettle as close as possible, and hang it over a 
very gentle fire and keep it simmering or stewing, but 

p 



106 ON RAISING AND DRESSING HEMP. 

not boiling, so as to raise a good steam for six or eight 
hours. Then take it off, and let it stand till it is cool 
enough to handle. Take out the hemp, and wring it 
very carefully as dry as you can, and hang it out of the 
way of the wind in your garret or barn, shutting the 
doors. There let it remain, turning it now and then tiH 
perfectly dry. Then pack it in some close dry place till 
you wish to use it, but take care to visit it now and then, 
lest some part of it should be damp and rot. Wind and 
air weaken and rot hemp and flax very much. Then, at 
your leisure, twist up some of the hands, as hard as you 
can, and with a round smooth hard beetle, on a smooth 
stone, beat each hand by itself, turning it round from side 
to side till every part be well bruised. You must then 
untwist it and hatchel it, first through a coarse, and then 
through a fine hatchel : and remember that hatcheling 
must be performed in the same manner that a man would 
comb a line head of hair ; he begins at the end below, 
and, as that disentangles, he rises higher, till at last he 
reaches up to the crown of the head. The first tow 
makes good ropes for the use of the plantation ; the se- 
cond, good coarse shirting ; and the hemp itself excellent 
linen. The same method of steaming softens flax very 
much. 

REMARKS BY T. G. F. 

The foregoing article cannot but prove highly interest- 
ing to those who are engaged in agricultural pursuits. 
The disagreeable and unwholesome process, however, 
of water rotting hemp, it is hoped may be avoided by the 
method described by M. Bralle, page 27. 

Hemp or flax, may be steamed by a process similar to 
that which is stated in my remarks on that article, and 
according to principles laid down by count Rumford, 
page 58. A small boiler, and even a common tea 
kettle, would thus answer the purpose of supplying steam 
for marcerating large quantities of hemp or flax, without 
the possibility of scorching the materials subjected to the 
operation of the steam, and the vessels which contain the 
flax or hemp may be wooden tubs or vats, instead of 
metal. 



ON THE FORM OF ANIMALS. t9T 



ON THE FORM OF ANIMALS. 



BY HEICRT CLINE; ESQ. SURGEON. COM* BOARD OF AGRICUL- 
TURE, 1805. 



IT is the intention of this communication to ascertain 
in what instances crossing the breed of cattle is proper, 
and in what prejudicial; and the principles upon which 
the propriety of it depends. 

It has been generally understood that the breed of ani- 
mals is improved by crossing with the largest males. 
This opinion has done much mischief, and would have 
done more if it had not been counteracted by the desire 
of selecting animals of the best forms and proportions, 
which are rarely to be met with in those of the largest 
size. Experience has proved that crossing has only 
succeeded in an eminent degree in those instances in 
which the females were larger than in th» usuaf pro- 
portion of the females to the male^i and that it has 
generally failed when the males were disproportion- 
ally large. 

The external form of domestick animals has been 
much studied, and the proportions are well ascertained. 
But the external form is an indication of internal struc- 
ture. The principles of improving it must therefore be 
founded on a knowledge of the structure and use of the 
internal parts. 

Of these the lungs are of the first importance. It is 
on their size and soundness that the strength and health 
of an animal principally depends. The power of con- 
verting food into nourishment is in proportion to their 
size. An animal with large lungs is capable of converting 
a given quantity of food into more nourishment than one 
with smaller lungs ; and therefore has a greater aptitude 
to fatten. 

CHEST. 

The size and form of the chest indicate the size of 
the lungs, of which the form should approach to the 
figure of a cone having the apex situated between the 
shoulders and its base towards the loins : a circular form 
of chest is preferable to one deep and narrow, for though 
the latter may have greater girth, the former will have 
greater internal space in proportion. 



1081 ON THE FORM OF ANIMALS. 

THE PELVIS. 

The Pelvis is the cavity formed by the junction of the 
hip bones with the rump bone. This cavity should be 
large in a female, that she may be enabled to bring forth 
her young with less difficulty j when this cavity is small, 
the life of the mother and her offspring is endangered. 

The size of the pelvis is indicated by the width of the 
hips, and the space between the thighs ; the breadth of 
the loins is always in proportion to that of the chest and 
pelvis, 

HEAP. 

The head should be small, by which the birth is facili- 
tated to the offspring ; it also indicates the animal to be of 
a good breed, and occasions less weight of unprofitable 
substance to the consumer. 

Horns are useless to domestick animals, and occasion 
a great weight of bone m the head The skull of a rarn 
with horns weighed five times as much as that of one 
without horns, each being four years old. A mode of 
breeding which would prevent the production of horns, 
would theretorc afford a considerable saving. 

The length of the neck should be proportioned to 
the height of the animal, that it may collect its food 
with ease, 

MUSCLES, * 

The muscles and tendons, which are their appendages, 
should be large, by which an animal is enabled to travel 
with greater facility. 

BONES. 

The strength of an animal does not depend on the size 
of the bones, but on that of the muscles ; 'many animals 
with large bones are weak, their muscles being small. 

Animals imperfectly nourished during growth have 
their bones disproportionally large. If this originated 
from a constitutional defect, they remain weak during 
life ; large bones may therefore indicate an imperfection 
in the organs of nutrition. 

OF THE IMPROVEMENT OF FORM. 

The chief point to be attended to for the improvement 
Qf form, from Mr. Cline's principles, is the selection of 
males for breed of a proportionally smaller size than the 
females, both being of approved forms ; the size of the 
foetus depends on the size of the male, and therefore 
when the female is disproportionally small, her offspring 
has all the disproportion of a starveling, from want of 
due nourishment. 



ON THE FORM OF ANIMALS. tQ9 

- The larger female has also a greater sr^ply of milk, 
and her offspring is therefore more abundai ^y provided 
with nourishment after birth. 

When the female is large in proportior to the male, 
the lungs of the offspring will also be greater; by cros- 
sing in this manner, there are produced animals with re- 
markably large chests, as has been often noticed : the 
advantage of large lungs has been already pointed out. 

In animals where activity is required, this practice 
should not be extended so far as in those which are in- 
tended for the food of man. 

The size of animals is commonly adapted to the soil 
which they inhabit ; when the produce is scanty, the 
breed is small : the large sheep of Lincolnshire would 
starve, where the small sheep of Wales find abundant 
food. 

Crossing may be attended with bad effects, even when 
begun on good principles, if the above rule be not at- 
tended to throughout ; for instance, if large ewes were 
brought to Wales, and sent to the rams of the country, 
the offspring would be of improved form; and, if suffi- 
ciently fed, of larger size than the native animals but the 
males of this breed would be disproportionately large to 
the native ewes, and therefore would produce a starveling 
ill formed race with them. 

The general mistake in crossing has arisen from an 
attempt to increase the size of a native race of animals ; 
being a fruitless effort to counteract the laws of nature ; 
which, from theory, from practice, and extensive obser- 
vation, Mr. Cline concludes to be decidedly wrong ; 
for in proportion to this unnatural increase of size, they 
become worse in form, less hardy, and more liable to 
disease. 

OBSERVATIONS BY THE EDITORS OF THE RETROSPECT OP 

DISCOVERIES. 

In this very excellent communication of Mr. Cline's, 
which is fraught with valuable information, there is one 
position which can be only understood in a general sense, 
namely ; that females of the largest size give most milk 
in proportion : small cows are often known to give more 
milk than large ; the quantity of milk seems to depend 
on the particular breed, and on the supply of food. 

Fatness also does not seem to be inconsistent with 
every disease of the lungs, though no doubt it is with 



110 ON THE ANALYSIS OT BOILS. 

most, at least if we may argue from the human race to 
brute animals, as nothing is more common than for fat 
people to be asthmatick. 

The directions for breeding given by Mr. Cline, are 
certainly the best calculated to produce fine healthy ani- 
mals, and of course the most wholesome meat -, but there 
is some doubt whether this would be so agreeable to the 
breeders, as the exuberant fatness, which has been so 
fashionable among them for some years past, and which 
in all probability is inconsistent with the health of the 
animal: a prodigious fatness is justly considered as a 
state of disease in mankind, and there is no reason why- 
it should not be so in beasts also : as a confirmation of 
the opinion that the excess of fat does not improve the 
quality of the meat, it is pretty generally acknowledged 
that the average of mutton in the London markets affords 
a much more coarse and unpalatable food than what was 
in general to be had some years back, before the prodigi- 
ously fat breeds became so prevalent. There is great 
reason to believe that the fine flavour of the meat may 
not solely proceed from an adequate age of the animal, 
but may also depend on particularity of breed, as much 
as great fatness or quality of wool j and if the breeders 
of sheep would attend a little to this circumstance in 
future, they would confer a singular favour on all those 
who eat mutton, who are at least as numerous as the 
tallow chandlers and clothiers, whose interests they have 
hitherto chiefly studied in this matter, next to their own* 



ACCOUNT 



or MR. DAVY*S PAPER ON THE ANALYSIS OF SOILS, COMMUNI- 
CATED TO THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 1805. 

MR. DAVY having first mentioned that the ad- 
vantages of analysis of soils have already been felt by 
some eminent cultivators since they were pointed out 
by Lord Dundonald and Mr. Kirwan, and that Mr. 
Young has furnished many useful facts and observations 
with regard to them, proceeds to state the various sub- 
stances which usually compose the soils of this country; 
namely, silex, alumine, lime, magnesia, matter from 



ON THE ANALYSIS OF SOILS. Ill 

animal decomposition, matter from vegetable decompo- 
sition, salts, and oxyds. 

The instruments and chymical re-agents proper for 
making analysis of soils, may be had, ready packed in 
cases, at Mr. Knight's, Foster-lane, Cheapside. 

Mr. Davy recommends that when the soil of any estate 
is examined, a variety of specimens should be taken 
from different parts, whenever there is the least reason 
to suppose that any difference of soil exists, for some- 
times one part of a field is silicious, and another cal- 
careous. Each specimen should consist of between 200 
and 400 grains, should be taken up from two to three 
inches beneath the surface, at a dry season and be ex- 
posed to the atmosphere till dry to the touch, and 
preserved in bottles with ground stoppers till the ana- 
lysis is made. 

The specifick gravity of each specimen should be 
examined first j this may be done by filling a small bot- 
tle with water, weighing it, pouring out one half, and 
putting in the aoil in its place till the bottle is again 
full, then weighing it a second time and noting the dif- 
ference ; thus if the bottle of water weighs 400 grains, 
and when the soil is added, as described, weighs 600 
grains, the specifick gravity of the soil will be two j that 
is, it will be twice as heavy as water ; and if the mix- 
ture weighed 565 grains, the specifick gravity would 
be 1825, water being 1000. 

1. To ascertain the absorbency of the soil, it should 
be heated in a vessel at 300 degrees Fahrenheit, or till 
wood held in contact with the vessel begins to be char- 
red : if after twelve minutes the loss of weight should 
be 50 out of 400 grains, the soil may be considered as 
highly absorbent. 

2. The next process should be to separate with a 
sieve, the stones, gravel, roots, and vegetable fibres, 
none t)f which should be removed before the former 
operation, as they are often themselves highly absor- 
bent. 

The weight of these matters should be noted, and 
the quality of the stones or gravel examined ; if they 
are calcareous, they will effervesce with acids ; if sili- 
cious, they will scratch glass ; if of the common alu- 
minous class of stones, they will be soft, easily scratched 
with a knife, and will not effervesce with acids. 

3. The sand should next be separated by agitation 
in water, it will first subside, and the other matters 



112 ON THE ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 

will remain for two or three minutes suspended in the 
water, which should then be poured ofF, filtered, dried, 
and weighed, the sand should be weighed also, and the 
lixivial water examined as to its containing salts, and 
animal or vegetable soluble matters, in solution. 

4. The sand may be examined by gradually pouring 
muriatick acid on it (if any effervescence ensues at 
first) till the acid ceases to be neutralized, or loses 
its sour taste ; this process will dissolve all the calca- 
reous part of the sand, and the remainder will be sili- 
cious, which should be washed, dried, and heated 
strongly in a crucible ; the difference between its weight 
and that of the whole sand, indicates the proportion of 
calcareous sand. 

5. The finely divided matter, separated in the third 
process, consists sometimes of all the four primitive 
earths, with animal and vegetable matter; to ascertain 
the nature of this matter, muriatick acid in equal weight, 
with twice its weight of water added, should be poured 
on it, often stirred, and suffered to remain at rest for 
an hour and a half: this will dissolve the carbonate of 
lime, magnesia, and oxyd of iron, contained ; the fluid 
shojLild be separated by a filter, and the solid matter 
washed, dried, and weighed, its loss will denote the 
quantity of solid matter dissolved ; a little prussiate of 
potash added to the solution will show by a blue pre- 
cipitate the presence of oxyd of iron if any exists^ 
To the remaining fluid, carbonate of potash should be 
added till all effervescence ceases, and the taste indi- 
cates an excess of alkali. The precipitate thrown down 
by this process will be carbonate of lime. 

The remaining fluid being boiled after this, will de- 
posit the magnesia contained, combined with carbonick 
acid. 

6. After the fine matter of the soil has been acted 
on by muriatick acid, the quantity of insoluble animal 
and vegetable matter may be ascertained, by heating it 
to strong ignition in a crucible till no black remains in 
the mass, which should be often stirred with a metallick 
wire during the process ; a smell from the roasted mat- 
ter resembling that of burned feathers, indicates animal 
matter ; and a copious blue flame arising denotes a 
considerable proportion of vegetable matter. When 
speed is required, the process may be hastened by adding 
nitrate of ammonia by degrees in the proportion of one- 
fiYth of the resident soil* 



ON THE ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 11^ 

7. The next process is to ascertain the alumine, silex, 
and oxyd of iron contained ; for this purpose, the mat* 
ter, after undergoing the former operations, should be 
boiled for two or three hours in sulphurick acid, diluted 
with four times its weight of water, the acid should 
be one-fifth the weight of the soil. 

The insoluble substance remaining may be considered 
as silicious, and its quantit^f;^ may be known by drying 
and weighing it. 

If the fluid contains alumine and oxyd of iron in solu- 
tion, carbonate of ammonia added in excess throws down 
the alumine, and leaves the oxyd of iron, which may also 
be separated by boiling. 

8. Saline and soluble animal or vegetable matter, is 
known by examining the water of lixiviation used for se- 
parating the sand. This should be evaporated to dryness 
at a heat below that of boiling water. If the solid mat- 
ter obtained be of a brown colour, it may be considered 
vegetable extract ; if its smell be strong and foetid, it 
contains animal matter ; if it be white and transparent, 
it is principally saline matter ; if this saline matter 
scintillate on burning coals, it shows it to be nitrate of 
lime, potash, or ammonia. Sulphate of magnesia is 
detected by its bitter taste, and sulphate of potash by 
its producing no alteration in solution of carbonate of 
ammonia, and precipitating muriate of barytes. 

9. When sulphate of lime is supposed to be contained 
in the soil, a given weight of it (as 400 grains) must 
be heated red for half an hour in a crucible, mixed 
with a third of powdered charcoal ; the mixture must 
be boiled for a quarter of an hour in half a pint of wa- 
ter, then filtered, and the fluid exposed for some days 
to the air in an open vessel. If any soluble quantity of 
sulphate of lime existed in the soil, a white precipitate 
will gradually form in the fluid, the weight of which will 
indicate the proportion. 

After this the remaining soil may be examined for 
phosphate of lime by digesting muriatick acid on it, 
evaporating the solution, and washing the solid matter, 
which will leave the phosphate of lime, 

CHYMICAL COMPOSITION OF FERTILE SOILS. 

Fertile soils always consist of certain proportions of 
aluminous and calcareous earths in a finely divided state, 
and of vec^etable or animal matter. 



114 IMPROVEMENT OF SOIL, 

The quantity of calcareous earth is very various, and 
in some cases very small ; a very fertile corn soil JFrom 
east Lothian afforded eleven parts in a hundred of cal- 
careous earth, and twenty five of silicious sand, it 
however afforded some indications of a small quantity 
of phosphate of lime, by which its fertility might be 
in some degree caused, as this substance is found in 
wheat, oats, and barley. It also contained nine parts 
of animal and vegetable matter. An equally productive 
soil from Somersetshire, on the contrary, contained 
eight ninths of calcareous earth to one ninth of silicious 
sand, held about five parts in the hundred of vegetable 
and animal matter, and had no phosphate of lime. 

In general bulbous roots require a more sandy soil 
than grasses, and less attractive of moisture ; plants 
and trees whose roots are hard and fibrous, will thrive 
best in a soil moderately dry, which does not contain 
too much vegetable matter. 

IMPROVEMENT OF SOIL. 

A soil deficient in fertility should be compared with a 
fertile soil in its neighbourhood in a similar situation, 
the analysis of both will show what is wanting in the 
inferiour soil. Thus if the fertile soil contain a larger 
proportion of sand, calcareous earth, or clay, &c. the 
process of amelioration for the other soil would con- 
sist in adding to it the same substance. In adding lime, 
magnesian limestone should be avoided, having been 
found to be injurious to land in several instances (vid. 
Phil. Trans, for 1799.) Magnesian limestone is known 
by its greater hardness, by the greater length of time it 
requires for solution in acids, and by analysis. 

Improvements made on soils by rendering then* of 
the best composition as to their earthy parts, establishes 
a permanent fertility, and renders them capable of at- 
tracting a large portion of vegetable nourishment from 
the atmosphere, and thereby of yielding crops with 
comparatively less labour ; whereas by applying animal 
or vegetable manure the benefit is only temporary, 
and in all cases exhausted by a certain number of crops. 



IMPROVEMENT OF SOIL. 115 

OBSERVATIONS. 

BY THE EDITORS OF THE RETROSPECT OF DISCOVERIES. 

Those who are moderately acquainted with chymical 
matters will certainly find the directions given by Mr. 
Davy, for analysis of soils, extremely valuable. (These 
are contained more fully in the Repertory of Arts, 
Nos. 38 and 39.) But those who have never performed 
any chymical operations would do well, before they 
attempt to examine soils in this manner, to get some 
previous instructions in general chymistry, and learn 
particularly the effect of the chymical re-agents : for 
which latter purpose they will find the small volume 
published by professor Gottling on chymical tests, par- 
ticularly serviceable. Farmers, in general, however, 
would find it more advantageous to employ some chy- 
mical gentleman to make the analysis for them of their 
soils, than to spend their time in learning a new science, 
whose operations require the utmost delicacy and ad- 
dress in most cases, and in none more than in analysis. 
If no chymist live near them, specimens of the soils 
collected as here directed, packed in bottles with 
ground stoppers, and properly numbered, might be for- 
warded for examination at a moderate expense to a 
considerable distance. It would be an object worthy 
the attention of the Board of Agriculture to facilitate 
the investigation of soils in this manner, by making- 
it worth the while of some experienced chymist to 
analyse soils for farmers on moderate terms, and pub- 
lickly advertise to receive specimens from all parts of 
the kingdom for this purpose. 



!!a« 



ACCOUNT OF THE DOUBLE BOATS 

BUILT BY THE DIRECTION OF SIR SYDNEY SMITH, OF BUILD- 
ING VESSELS OF THIS KIND ON A LARGE SCALE, AND OF 
OTHER VESSELS FORMERLY BUILT ON THE SAME PLAN. BY 
MR. J. W. BOSWELL. REP- OF ARTS, NO. 41, NEW SERIES. 

AS these boats have excited much curiosity, a brief 
account of them may not be unacceptable. 

The first double boat built by Sir Sydney Smith con- 
sists of two of the common Thames wherries, united 



116 ON DOTTBLE BOATS- 

by a stage or platform laid over them, of about twenty 
feet breadth. The wherries were raised one streak to 
receive this stage, which is formed by pieces of scant- 
ling, about six inches by three, laid across the boats, 
and firmly secured to them, upon which a deck is after- 
wards laid down. Beyond this stage the boats project 
about five feet at either end ; these parts being also 
decked over, and the whole water-tight above. Long, 
narrow hatchways open into each wherry : their heads 
and sterns are connected by cross pieces, and each is 
furnished with two masts ; so that the double boats 
carry four masts in all, on which sprit-sails are used, 
for more conveniently reversing the direction of the ves- 
sel without putting about, either end being so formed 
as to go foremost with equal facility. 

Two other vessels have since been built on this 
plan, upon a larger scale : they are called the Gemini 
and the Cancer. The stages or platforms of these 
boats are not so broad in proportion as that of the 
first. The Gemini has also her two supporting boats 
formed with the internal side of each, perpendicular 
and straight, so that each resembles half of a boat, di- 
vided lengthwise vertically. The sheer of the latter 
boats is also much greater than that of the first, their 
extremities being considerably higher than their decks. 

The Gemini has four masts ; the Cancer is said to 
have but two. Each double boat is furnished w^ith 
a small gun, placed on the middle of the platform, 
and is fitted with a suitable number of oars, to be used 
in calm weather. 

The chief advantages of double-hulled vessels are 
stated to *be,— the great velocity with which they may 
be made to sail,— their considerable resistance to the 
making of lee-way, — -the facility of mancEUvring, — their 
great steadiness, by reason of which they can, if used 
m war, direct their guns with more effect than other 
vessels of equal burthen,— their taking the ground well, 
and being steady and secure where other vessels would 
be overset, — >and the great relative size of their decks, 
which gives more room for working guns, and ma- 
naging the sails. 

Mr. Boswell, the ingenious author of this paper, has 
added historical and practical remarks on this kind of 
vessels. He justly observes, that such vessels of a 
large size should not depend on a single series of 
"beams, but at least two series, one oyer the other, with. 



ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF SHEEP. tit 

an intermediate space of not less than five feet. The 
lower series of beams should be planked outside, the 
^ame as the rest of the vessel, which thus forming 
the bottom of a third vessel in the midst of the other 
two, should slope gradually upwards at either end, 
that it might make less resistance to the waves, and 
tend to surmount them when it encounters them. This 
middle vessel, instead of being entirely sustained by 
the other two, might be so constructed as to draw a 
foot or two of water ; a construction from which seve- 
ral advantages would result. 

Double vessels of a large size should not be made to 
go with either end foremost ; for besides the impossi- 
bility of staying their masts properly for this purpose, 
they could not thus be shaped to the greatest advan- 
tage for swift sailing; for the head requiring a certain 
fulness to bear up against the impulse of the sails, and 
the stern a certain length of slope, the head also re*, 
quiring the rounding off to be sidewise, and the stem 
requiring the sloping to be mostly from the bottom 
upwards, the shape which would suit the one would 
not the other, and an intermediate shape would be 
imperfect for both. 

Small double vessels may have the platform strength- 
ened by two or more pairs of shears erected across it, 
each well secured to the deck by a perpendicular shroud 
descetiding to it from the upper angle, or by a mast 
rising in that part, well bolted to the platform below, 
and firmly fastened to the shears above : probably the 
shears in the first of Sir Sydney's boats might have beefi 
for this purpose. 



ACCOUNT 



OF THE PROFIT AND LOSS UPON A FLOCK OF SHEEP WINTERED 
AT CLERMONT, IN 1806 7. 

COMMUNICATED TO THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF DUTCHESS 
COUNTY NEW-YORK. BY ROBERT R. LI VINGSTON. 

THE flock consisted of six full bred Merino sheep, 
twenty-four three*fourths bred, thirty half bred, and se- 
venteen common sheep of good quality. They we^e 



118 ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF SHEEP. 

kept in one flock and treated alike in every respect. The 
full bred were two rams and four ewes, one of the ewes 
died in February a lambing — She was eight years old. 
Two ewes lambed in March, the other was a yearling, 
and had not taken the ram. On the twenty-eighth of 
May the five sheep were shorn, and gave 28 3-4 pounds 
of wool. They had not been washed, but as they were 
well littered in the fold, and kept out except at night, 
the wool was not so foul as common. 

/. s, d, 
26 3-4lbs. of wool sold to Mr. Booth, at 10s. 14 7 6 
1 ram lamb sold at S 100 40 00 

1 ewe do. not sold, as I have not yet my com- 

pfement, ' 40 00 

Wool from the ewe that died 4 1-2 at 10s. 2 5 



Deduct for the old ewe that died 

which cost at 2 years old S80 15 00 Oj-1812 O 
Keeping 6 sheep at 12s. 3 12 



s} 



96 12 6 



/. 74 00 6 

ACCOUNT OF 24 THREE qUARTER BRED SHEEP. 

24 sheep, among which there was but one 
yearling wether, gave 106 lbs. of wool, 
sold at 5s. /. 26 10 O 

Keeping at 12s. Deduct 14 8 O 

Clear profit on the wool, 12 2 O 

Remains to be credited 21 seven-eighths bred 
lambs at /. 

N. B. This wool was worth at least eight shillings, 
though sold at five shillings, the rate at which the half 
blood sold. Though it was much finer and many fleeces 
very little inferiour to the full bred sheep. 

ACCOUNT OF o5 HALF BRED MERINOS. 

5 lambs sold before shearing to Mr. Dean 

at S 12. /. 24 00 

30 shorn gave 139 1-2 lbs. of wool, sold at 5s. 34 17 6 

58 17 6 

Expense of 35 at 123. 21 00 O 

Clear profit exclusive of lambs, 37 17 6 

To twenty-two quarter bred lambs, 



ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF SHEEP. 119 

N. B. I have not carried out the price of the lambs, 
because this is in some measure arbitrary and propor- 
tioned to the demand. I have myself however pur- 
chased three quarter bred ewes at seventeen dollars and 
sold my half bloods at twelve dollars. I value the seven 
eighths at forty dollars the ewes, and fifty for the rams. 
Taking the average at fifteen dollars, for the whole 
twenty two lambs, it would amount to four hundred and 
forty pounds, to be added to the account of profits- 

RECAPITULATION. 

Clear profits on five Merinos, I, 78 00 6 
Do. on the wool of 24 three quarter 

bred do. 26 50 

Do. on 35 half bred do. including 5 sold, 37 7 6 



Clear profit on 64 sheep, exclusive of lambs, 141 18 O 

ACCOUNT OF SEVENTEEN COMMON SHEEP, PART OF THE 

ABOVE FLOCK. 

Keeping at 12s. of seventeen sheep, /. 10 4 

Fleeces unwashed 62 1-2 lbs. at 2s. 6, 8 113 



Loss, if lambs are not credited, 1 12 9 

Fifteen lambs at 12s. /. 9 00 O 

Two things will require explanation in the above 
statement. First, the quantity of wool given by my 
Merinos, and next the low price at which I sold the 
wool of the three quarter bred sheep. 

It will seem extraordinary that five merinoes should 
have given twenty-eight pounds and three quarters of 
wool, which is near six pounds, and would probably 
amount to about four pounds of washed wool per head. 
But it is to be considered that these were chosen, or 
bred from those that were chosen with care out of a 
flock of two hundred that were themselves an improved 
stock. For it is an undoubted truth that the Merinos 
of the national flock have greatly improved in France by 
care and attention j that they are larger and yield more 
wool (without the latter having deteriorated) than the 
Merinos of Spain. This is a very encouraging circum- 
stance, and the rather as I can add from my own ex- 
perience, that the French Merinos improve here when 



120 ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF SHEEP. 

well well kept. That there is no errour in my state- 
ment is clear from this circumstance. Mr. Booth pur- 
chased the ,wool and weighed it a second time him- 
self, after it had been weighed by my own overseer, 
4;heir accounts agreeing exactly. 

Though the wool of the fourth bred sheep was only 
sold at five shillings, yet it was worth at least eighty 
since it was in most of the fleeces, nearly as fine as that 
of the full bred sheep. But as this was the first time I 
had sold the wool, and Mr. Booth took all I had, I 
gave it to him at the price that he had put upon that 
of the half blood sheep. I should mention here, that 
Mr. Dean informs me, that the five lambs he had of 
me, have given him five pounds of washed wool per 
head, which he can sell to the hatters at eight shillings 
per pound, so that had they been purchased only for 
the wool, they would have yielded about thirty percent 
on the capital. 

Though in the above statement I have credited the 
wool below its real value, and at the price at which I 
sold it, yet even at these prices, the contrast between 
the Merino and the common sheep is sufficiently ob- 
vious to induce every intelligent farmer to change his 
stock as fast as he can do it with convenience, and 
without too much expense. Without speaking of the 
full blood, which it would be difficult as yet to pro- 
cure, 1 will contrast the half bloods with the common 
sheep kept with them, and fed exactly alike. My 
half bloods gave in wool eleven shillings and ten pence 
per head profit, after paying twelve shillings for their 
keeping? whereas the keeping of the common sheep 
amount to a fraction more than one shilling and ten 
pence per head beyond the value of their wool, making 
a difference of thirteen shillings and three pence per 
head, between the profit of half bred Merinos and 
common sheep, supposing the lambs both equal in va- 
lue, though in fact, the difference in the value of the 
sheep must necessarily extend to the lambs, and ren- 
der the contrast still more striking. Let any agricul- 
turalist make the calculation upon a flock of one hun- 
dred wethers of each sort, and conviction must stare 
him in the face. One hundred common wethers would 
give if well kept, 250 pounds of washed wool, worth 
three shillings per pound, fifty-twb pounds ten shillings. 
The same number of half-brea Meriu os would yield 
at least 400 pounds, worth eight shillings, or one hun- 



ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF SHEEP. 121 

dred and sixty pound. Deduct the keeping at twelve 
shillings, and the merino flock affords a clear profit of 
one hundred pounds, while the loss upon the common 
sheep amounts to seven pounds ten shillings. They are 
then a losing stock till sold to the butchers, and then if 
killed at three years old, do not give seven shillings 
a year profit per head. Thus if sold fat they are worth 
three hundred pounds ; from this must be deducted the 
annual loss for three years 22l. 158. leaving an ultimate 
clear profit of S 243 25, at the end of three years, during 
which the time the owner has been paying an annual loss 
with the interest of which the flock should be chargedc 
While on the other hand the half blood Merinos will 
obtain the same price from the butcher at the end of 
three years, and will in the meantime have paid an an- 
nual profit of lOOl. yearly for the interest of which the 
flock should be credited, and if sold in the winter when 
their fleeces are grown, will give an additional profit of 
200 dollars, beyond the common sheep sold under simi- 
lar circumstances. Who is there that does not feel the 
difi'erence "between receiving lOOl. yearly, and waiting 
three years before your capital produces any thing ? It 
may be said the Merinos are less profitable from want 
of size, as animals of the same species, generally speak- 
ing, eat in proportion to their size. I think there is no 
weight in this objection if it was really founded. But 
thii I can say, that I have no doubt that if my sheep of 
the full and mixed breed were weighed against any com- 
mon flock of equal numbers, they would outweigh them. 
They are certainly heavier and better woolled than any 
other sheep that I have seen, except some of the best 
English breeds. We should add, the merino will yield 
a greater profit if kept seven years, whereas, every year 
that a common sheep is kept after he is fit for the butcher 
is so much loss, inasmuch as the wool does not pay for 
his keeping. 

These observations, founded upon undeniable facts, 
are so striking, that I hope to see this useful breed of 
sheep as much encouraged as it deserves to be, and I 
deem it a very happy circumstance, that the introduc- 
tion of them by colonel Humphreys into Connecticut 
from Spain, and by myself from France in the same 
year, into this state, furnish the intelligent farmer with 
means for the gradual change of his flock, which may 
be efl'ected by the purchase of three quarter and half 
blooded rams, whose fleeces alone will annually pay 

R 



122 ON THE USE OF LIME MIXED WITH GUJ^POWDES. 

thirty per cent upon the price they cost, so that in fact, 
the change may be wrought without any expense, and 
for a trifling advance of money. I am satisfied that 
even the introduction of one quarter Spanish blood into 
a flock will improve the fleece to the value of five shil- 
lings, so that instead of losing annually one shilling 
and ten pence on the wool of every sheep in the flock, 
three shillings and two pence will be gained ; and a 
ram who will cost about three pounds more than a good 
common ram, will add twelve pounds ten shillings year- 
ly to the value of a flock consisting of fifty ewes. 

ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 
Clermont, July 2, 1807. 



ON THE USE OF LIME 

MIXED WITH GUNPOWDER, IN RENDING ROCKS AND STONES. 
BY H. Do GRIFFITH, ESQUIRE, OF CAKRHUN, NEAR CON- 
WAY, NORTH WALfeS. 

/ 

FROM THE LETTERS AND PAPERS OF THE BATH AND WEST OF 
EifGLAND SOClfeTY, 

HAVING been for some time in the habit of pe- 
rusing your interesting papers on agriculture and other 
subjects, I am induced to lay before the society a circum- 
stance, which, though perhaps familiarly known to them, 
mighty if more generally divulged through the channel 
of their publications, be of infinite advantage to the 
publick 

In clearing my lands of the heaps of stones with 
which this country every where abounds, I found the 
quantity of gunpowder used in the operation, to amount 
to a considerable sum at the end of the year; and, as 
the price of this article has been increasing of late to an 
enormous amount, I had recourse to an expedient, by 
which the expense of it has been materially diminished, 

I weighed out two pounds of gunpowder, and one 
pound of quick lime, well dried and pulverized ; which, 
after having been thoroughly mixed with each other, I 
delivered to the blaster, with directions to apply it, in 
similar quantities as he would have done the gunpowder 
by itself. I then selected six of the hardest granites I 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF POTATOES. 12o 

could find for the experiment; and the effects of the 
explosion were precisely the same as if gunpowder alone 
had been used. It now occurred to me, that this might 
be fallacious, and that a smaller proportion of gunpowder 
would produce the same effect as a larger ; 1 according- 
ly ordered the man to bore holes in a similar number of 
stones, of the same texture and size with the former, 
and to put in a less quantity of gunpowder, by one- 
third, than he would have done if it had been left to his 
own management. The stones were separated by the 
shock ; but the difference in the effect was manifest to 
every person in the field ; those with the mixture of 
lime and gunpowder having been much more effectually 
broken and shattered than the others. 

After the success of this experiment, I have con- 
stantly adhered to the practice j and am so satisfied of 
its utility, that I wish to see it more generally adopted. 
One thing is certain, that a mixture composed of equal 
parts of quick-lime and gunpowder will explode ; and, 
if this mixture were used merely as a train of com- 
munication to the powder within the stone, what a na- 
tional saving would it be in works carried on upon an 
extensive scale, such as the numerous quarries and mine 
works of this kingdom ! 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF POTATOES 

FROM THE RIND, &C. BY THE REV. EDWARD WHITTLE, OF 
ODSTOCK, NEAR SALISBURY. 



FROM HIE LETTERS AND PAPERS OF THE BATH AND WEST OT 
ENGLAND SOCIETY. 

PERHAPS, amongst all the various kinds of in- 
formation, there may be times and seasons when that 
which is the most simple may be of the most general 
use, because it can be more easily and more effectually 
communicated, and carried into practice with greater 
facility. 

Notwithstanding the considerate goodness of the So- 
ciety, in informing the publick of the cheapest method 
of raising potatoes, and recommending them at this 



124 ON THE CULTIVATION OF POTATOEJB. 

time to plant more than usual, the growers of that use- 
ful root are, in general, so bigotted to their old method 
of doing things, that it is with the greatest difficulty 
they can be prevailed on to make improvements, although 
they would certainly tend to their own and the general 
good ; and are rendered quite certain bv experiments 
already tried. It is in consequence of conversation 
with men of this description, that I am induced to 
trouble you with this letter ; men who would not be 
convinced to the contrary, but that the decaying potatoe 
afforded so much more nourishment to the green which 
sprung from it, than could possibly be afforded from a 
piece of rind, as would render the crop much niore 
abundant; and affected to disbelieve what was insert- 
ed in the Salisbury Journal by your Society, because the 
persons' names who made the experim.ents were not in- 
serted. However, having been in the habit of planting 
potatoes for these fifteen or sixteen years past, I have 
been induced to make the following experiments. 

In the year 1790, I planted a large square of potatoes, 
one-third of which was with the rind ; one-third with 
ivhole potatoes ; and the other part with pieces^ cut in 
the usual way ; and I assure you, when the season came 
for digging, there was not the least visible difference in 
the produce. 

The following year, I planted in the same row or drill, 
one whole potatoe, one piece, and one piece of rind, in 
which there was an eye, alternately ; and, when the 
season came for digging, I was very careful in my ob- 
servation, but unable to perceive any difference in the 
crop. 

In the year 1793, when the servant was digging up 
my potatoes, besides those fit for eating, I discovered 
a great number about the size of a walnut, and from 
that to a hazel nut, which I ordered to be left in the 
ground. In the spring of 1 794, my two potatoe beds were 
irregularly covered with greens, which spring from these 
small potatoes ; I therefore prepared, about the middle 
of April, (for, on account of the coldness of the land, 
I have always had the best crops from potatoes planted 
at that time) two other beds, about the same size, into 
which J transplanted these greens ; about one-third of 
which had the seed hanging to them, and about two- 
thirds had not, having dropped off in drawing. With 
these I planted one bed ana a half, and Piic-xde up the 
other half bed partly with wt>ole, and partly with pota- 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF POTATOES. 125 

toes cut in the common way, some in drills, and some 
planted in holes made with a setting-stick ; and I have 
to state, that we were as exact as possible (without 
weighing or measuring) in our observations, and we 
could not discern the least difference in the production, 
the crop being, to all appearance, quite as good from 
the shoots as from the whole or the cut potatoe ; and I 
am convinced there is not the least necessity for planting 
the potatoe, in order to raise a crop, as the rind, or 
shoots, will produce one equally as good. The reason 
which induced me to make out the remaining half bed 
with whole and cut potatoes, when I before was satis- 
fied that the rind would answer the end, was, that if I 
had told my neighbours that the shoots produced as good 
a crop as the rind, and the rind as the shoots, they would 
have replied, " that is very probable, but if you had 
planted whole, or cut potatoes, your crop would have 
exceeded either!" 

In a second letter, Mr. Whittle writes as follows: 
I have only to observe, that I continue, as usual, to 
plant only tht parings of potatoes, and the young shoots 
which occasionally spring from the very small ones, ge- 
nerally left in the ground as good for nothing, and which 
are seldom picked out, except for the purpose of clean- 
ing the land. Sometimes I have planted them in drills, 
and sometimes in holes made with a stick, covering them 
with muck ; but, as to the manner of planting, I have 
never observed any difference in the crops. Last year, 
indeed, I was from home a considerable part of the 
year, and I find the potatoes were cut in pieces when 
planted ; but I have found no advantage by it in the 
present crop, except what I expected from new ground. 
When the potatoes are pared for planting, one or two 
eyes should be carefully preserved in everv piece, and 
a small portion of the potatoes, about the size of a horse 
'bean, to everv eve. 



126 METHOD OF DESTROYING CATERPILLARS. 



ACCOUNT OF A METHOD 

OF DESTROYING CATERPILLARS ON GOOSEBERRY BUSHES. 

FROM THE PRIZE ESSAYS OF THE HIGHLAND SOCIETY OF 
SCOTLAND^ 

A RECEIPT for this purpose was offered to be 
communicated to the societ}^, by William Henderson, at 
Baldridge Burn, near Dumfermline, on the 6th of Fe- 
bruary, 1795, for a suitable reward. The proposal was 
referred to a sub committee, of which Dr. Monro, pro- 
fessor of anatomy in the University of Edinburgh, was 
chairman ; who, after making trial of the receipt, gave 
in their report on the 1st of July, 1796. The receipt for 
the preparation, and the manner of using it, was in the 
following words. 

Take one Scots pint of tobacco liquor, which the ma- 
nufacturers of tobacco generally sell for destroying bugs, 
and mix therewith about one ounce of alum ; when the 
alum is sufficiently dissolved, put this mixture into a 
plate, or other vessel wide and long enough to admit of a 
brush, like a weaver's brush, being dipped into it ; and, 
as early in the season as you can perceive the leaves of 
the bushes to be in the least eaten, or the eggs upon the 
leaves (which generally happens about the end of May, 
aiid which will be found in great numbers on the veins of 
the leaves on their under side) you are to take the prepa- 
ration or liquor, and dip the brush into it, holding the 
brush towards the under side of the bush, which is to be 
raised and supported by the hands of another person ; 
then, by drawing your hand gently over the hairs of the 
brush, the above liquid is sprinkled, and thrown in small 
drops on the leaves : the consequence of which is, if the 
eggs are there, they never come forward; and if they 
have already generated worms, in a minute or two after 
the liquor touches them, they either die, or sicken so as 
to fall off the bush, at least they do so upon giving it a 
little shake. If, upon their thus falling off, they shall not 
appear to be completely dead, the bush should be held up, 
and either a little boiling water from a watering pan 
thrown on them, or a bruise given them by a spade or 
shovel, or the earth where they lie turned over with a 
hoe. This preparation does not in the least injure the 
busheSv 



METHOD OF DESTROYING CATERPILLARS. 127 

The liquor here meant is generally not in the same 
state it is extracted from the tobacco, but is mixed, by 
the tobacco manufacturers, with cold water, in the pro- 
portion of four or five pints of water to one of the origi- 
nal juice or essence. Therefore, any person who may 
purchase the juice itself, unmixed, must mix it with 
water in the above proportion ; aind the quantity of 
alum must be about an ounce for each Scots pint of 
the mixture. 

Dr. Monro's report was in the following words : 
" I observed along with Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Gor- 
don (two other gentlemen of the committee) and two 
gardeners who were present, that such caterpillars as 
were wetted by the liquor Mr. Henderson employs, 
were killed in a very few minutes ; and the experiment 
has been repeated by my own gardener, with the same 
effect. I have likewise found, thatat kills a kind of green 
fly which is very hurtful to the leaves of plumb trees and 
other fruit trees. It has been very generally known, 
that the smoke and the juice of tobacco were pernicious 
to different kinds of insects and worms ; but it has not, so 
far as I know, been employed in Mr. Henderson's man- 
ner ; and, as this has the advantage of not hurting the 
leaves, nor the fruit, I consider it as a useful and ma- 
terial improvement, and well entitlecl to a moderate 
premium." 

REMARK BY T. G. F. 

The simple recipe above described would probably 
be effectual in destroying the caterpillars and other in- 
sects which infest apple trees, and other species of fruit 
trees. 



X28 On raising potatoes from seed. 



ACCOUNT OF SOME EXPERIMENTS 

ON RAISING POTATOES FROM SEED, WITH REFLECTIONS ON 
THE SAME. BY MR. NEHEMIAH BARTLKY. 

FROM THE LETTERS AND PAPERS OF THE BATH AND WEST OF 
ENGLAND SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF AGRICUL- 
TURE, &C. 

IT having been a prevalent opinion, that the potatoe 
produced from seed* would require several years for 
bringing it to a state of maturity or perfection, and, from 
my own observation, having had reason to think it might 
reach maturity within the first year, I was, in the last 
spring, induced to try the experiment. 

I should have sown early in the month of April, had 
it been in my power to procure the seed j but it w^as 
with much difficulty I could get any, there being none in 
the Bristol seed shops ; and by mere chance, I got a sin- 
gle ounce at one of the London shops. It was not, there- 
fore, till the 19th of May, that I was enabled to sow the 
seed ; which was done in drills, with two feet intervals. 
About a month afterwards, the plants were in a state to 
be removed from the seed bed ; they were accordingly 
transplanted in drills, at the distance of about seven 
inches from plant to plant, with three feet intervals. And 
this, I imagine, is the most eligible scale for planting the 
potatoe in general, whether it be the seedling plants, or 
shoots from the bulbs. The earth in the intervals was 
drawn up, from time to time, to the plants, in proportion 
as they advanced in growth. About the beginning of 
September, they seemed to have acquired the usual 
size ; and all the mould which the intervals afforded, had 
been applied to them. 

About this time also, the plants began to put forth 
blossom ; and, notwithstanding the unfavourable cir- 
cumstance of the seed having been sown so late, I per- 
suade myself the plants would have produced seed, had 
not a remarkably severe frost intervened, at a period of 



* In a former letter, Mr. Bartley sa}^, ^' a notion prevails in Lan- 
cashire, and some other potatoe counties, that after a certain period, the 
cuttings, or offsets, are apt to degenerate in quality, as well as in 
power of producing- abundant crops ; whereas it is thought that pota- 
toes raised from seed, continue to improve in both respects for a consi- 
derable number of years." 



6n oak bark in dying. 129 

the season uncommonly early, by which they were en- 
tirely cut off: yet a great number of the bulbs had ac- 
quired a mature size. 

To those gentlemen who may be desirous of pursuing 
this experiment, I would recommend their sowing about 
the beginning of April ; or even sooner in the season, 
were it not for the danger of frost, of which this exotick 
plant* is very susceptible. 

Four ounces of seed would produce plants sufficient to 
stock an acre of ground, on the scale I have mentioned. 

The soil on which these plants were raised, was a 
deep sand} loam, without the addition of any artificial 
manure. 

It may be matter of future consideration, to what ex- 
tent this mode of cultivating the potatoe may supersede 
the present one, of propagating by shoots from the bulb. 
But the more obvious advantages seem to be, the pro- 
duction of new, and perhaps better varieties ; as well as 
by a timely recurrence to the seed, to renovate the spe- 
cies, which are generally understood to decline in prolifi-f. 
cacy after certain removes therefrom, and that at no very 
distant period of time. 



SPECIFICATION 



OF THE INVENTION OR DISCOVERY OF THE USE AND APPLICA^ 
TION OF CERTAIN VEGETABLES FOR DYING, STAINING, 
PRINTING, AND PAINTING CERTAIN VALUABLE COLOURS, 

FROM AN ACT OF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT, MADE IN THE 
25th year of GEORGE III. 

TO all to whom these presents shall come, &c. Now 
I the said Edward Bancroft, in obedience and confor- 
mity to the said act, do hereby particularly describe and 
ascertain the nature of my said invention, in its improved 
state, as followeth j I do declare, that the vegetables, of 
which I have invented or discovered the use and applica-^ 
tion, for the purposes of giving colour by ilying, staining. 



* Would not propag-ating- by sfced be the most effectual method of 
ffaturalizing- it ' 

s 



130 ON OAK BARK IN DYING. 

printing, and painting, as befor* mentioned, are the fol- 
lowing three in number ; viz. The first is a species of 
oak, growing spontaneously on the continent of North 
America, and particularly within the thirteen United 
States, in seme of which, particularly in the Massachu- 
setts Bay, it is commonly c2i\\e.dyelloxv oak^ and in others, 
particularly in Pennsylvania, black oak \ being that species 
of American oak, which, in the writings of the celebrated 
Carolus Linnaeus or Linne, is termed ^uercus nigra^ and 
which, in the Flora Virginica of Gronovius, is distin- 
guished as ^uercus foliis cuneiformibuSy obsolete trilobiSy 
intermedio equali. The bark of this oak is the part most 
useful in giving colour; it is very rough, and of a dark 
brown or black colour on the outside, and of a light 
yellowish brown within ; and may be distinguished from 
the bark of all other oaks, with which I am acquainted, 
by the following circumstances or effects; viz. if boiled 
in water, its decoction becomes y^How by the addition of 
alum, or if, instead of alum, a suitable quantity of green 
vitriol, or other solution of iron, by some other mineral 
or vegetable acid, be added, it produces a kind of olive, 
or olive-brown colour, instead of a black, which would 
be thereby produced with the decoction of any other 
kind of oak known to me. There are several varieties 
of this species of oak, all agreeing with it in giving a 
yellow colour by the help of alum, and I claim the ex- 
clusive right in dying, &c. of all the oaks, and varieties 
of oak, possessing this property. The bark in question 
may be most advantageously peeled or separated from 
the tree in the spring months ; and, as its rough blackish 
outside part, making nearly half of the whole, contains 
little or no colouring matter, it may be shaved or cut off 
from the inner part ; and this inner part, being tho- 
roughly dried, and coarsely ground, may be closely 
packed and pressed in proper casks, and shipped ; the 
spaces between the several casks being filled with pieces 
of the same bark, shaved, but not ground. The cargo 
which I imported, in the brigantine Industry, Henry 
Hubbs, master, from Philadelphia to London, in the year 
1775 (at which time no other person had ever either 
imported or used this bark in Great Britain) was shaved, 
prepared, and packed in these ways, and I consider 
them as a part of this my invention. The bark, thus 
prepared and imported, I call ^lercitron bark, a name 
composed of the Latin words ^lercus citrina; the co- 
louring parts and particles of this species of oak are of 



ON OAK BARK IN DYING. 13 J 

that class which Messieurs Macquer, Fourcroy, Mor- 
veau, and other French chymical writers, have called 
Extractive savonneuse^ ou gomm-euse^ and are to be fixed 
in dying, &c. by what these writers, and the French 
generally, call mordants; a term which I here adopt 
from, and use in, the sense in which it is usually em- 
ployed by ttiem, signifying alum, and other mineral salts 
and metallick solutions ; the earths of one or more of 
which, being previously conveyed, by an aqueous vehi- 
cle into the pores or interstices of the substance to be 
dyed or coloured, do attract the colouring particles of 
the Quercitron bark, &c. dissolved and applied in water, 
and do fix them, more or less indissolubly, in the sub- 
stance thus dyed or coloured. The tingent particles of 
this oak, or ^lercitroji bark, very much resemble, in 
their properties and effects, those of the Weld or Would 
plant ; the Reseda Luteola of Linnaeus ; and all the co- 
lours, and variations of colours, which are communicable 
by it to wool, silk, cotton, linen, &c. may be given, I 
think more advantageously, by the ^lercitron bark, 
used in the same ways, and with the same means j ex- 
cepting, that as this bark, separated from its outside 
useless part, as before mentioned, and powdered, will 
yield about ten times as much colour as an equal weight 
of the Weld plant, it must be employed in a proportiona- 
bly less quantity ; and excepting also, that no pot or pearl 
ash, or any other alkaline salt, is to be employed with 
the Quercitron bark, when either a yellow or green co- 
lour is wanted from it ; and that, in those cases where 
tartar, or cream of tartar, is used along with alum, for 
dying silk or wool yellow or green by the Weld, the tar- 
tar is to be wholly omitted in giving those colours from 
the ^uercitrvn bark, and the proportion of alum increased 
about one fourth part. This general explanation will 
enable the diers and calico printers to produce, from 
the Quercitron bark, all the colours and effects which 
have hitherto been produced by the Weld plant; but, to 
prevent the possibility of any mistake, I shall subjoin a 
few particular directions, though convinced that they 
must be unnecessary. The calico printer who would 
give a durable yellow from the Quercitron bark, instead 
of the Weld, must print or apply the same mordant, or 
composition of alum, sugar of lead, &c. (thickened as 
usual with gum) which is employed in fixing yellow 
from Weld, upon or to linen or cotton, prepared in the 
visual manner ; which mordant, having remained and 



182 ON OAK BARK IN DYIN€t. 

dried on the spots or figures intended to be made yellow, 
the usual time, is to be washed or rinsed off in the usual 
manner, and then to be died with the Quercitron bark 
(coarsely powdered) in the same manner as is practised 
with the Weld ; using, however, only a tenth part of the 
weight of the Weld which would be requisite, and em- 
ploying a moderate heat, in which the parts printed with 
the mordant will receive a very good yellow, while the 
rest of the linen or cotton is scarcely discoloured. When 
a boiling heat is used, and long continued, a portion of 
the resinous part of the Quercitron bark is thereby ex- 
tracted, which, in some degree, tends to give the yellow 
a brownish hue, and the parts intended to remain white 
are unnecessarily discoloured, and consequently require 
longer bleaching ; the process of which is to be con- 
ducted in the same manner, where the Quercitron bark 
has been used, as if the Weld had been employed. The 
The same mordant to figures, &c. previously dyed or 
stained blue wHth indigo, will afford a green colour from 
the Quercitron bark, by the same process as that which 
aflfords the yellow ; and, when this mordant has been 
printed on a white ground, if, instead of the Quercitron 
bark, a proportion of prepared madder be used with it, 
in the same manner as for the yellow, a lasting orange 
colour may be\ produced, partaking more or less of the 
red, according to the greater or less proportion in which 
jhe madder is employed. If a suitable proportion of 
green vitriol, or what is called iron liquor, or of iron dis- 
solved in the nitrous or the marine acid, be mixed with 
the mordant directed for the yellow, the Quercitron 
bark will, by the same process, give an olive, or an olive 
brown, v/ith what the French call Merde d'Oie^ carmelite, 
and other variations of tha|; species of colour: and if the 
colour of the Quercitron bark is wanted to be still more 
saddened, the iron liquor alone may be used as the mor- 
dant ; or, in its stead a solution of iron by either of the 
mineral acids, being first sufficiently diluted with water, 
and thickened with gum, as usual, may be employed. 
The calico printers may also give a considerable variety 
of earthy browns, snuff colours, &c. from the Quercitron 
bark, used in the same manner, by employing or sub- 
stituting, as mordants, either of the several solu* 
tions of tin, bismuth, or lead, in nitrous acid (com- 
monly called aqua fortis) or the solution of zinck 
in marine acid (commonly called spirit of sea salt) 
ox in aqua regia, or in yitriolick ^cid (by which last 



QH OAK BARK IV DYING. 133 

what is called white vitriol will be obtained) or by 
employing a solution of regulus of antimony in aqua re- 
gia ; in preparing either of these nnordants, the acid is 
to be saturated with the metal or metallick substance (by- 
being made to dissolve as much as it can retain of it) 
and the solution is afterwards to be diluted with water, 
so as that the acid may be thereby reduced, and made 
weaker than that of lemon juice, in order that it may 
not injure the linen or cotton to which it is to be applied. 
The mineral acids being prepared and sold of very 
different degrees of strength, it is impossible for me to 
specify exactly the proportions of the several metals or 
metalick substances abovementioned, which they are 
capable of dissolving or retaining ; and it is equally im- 
possible for me here to ascertain the exact proportion 
which will sufficiently dilute these different solutions j 
though in general a mineral acid of such strength as to 
neucralize about its own weight of clean, dry fixed vege- 
table alkaline salt will, when saturated with the proper 
metallick substance, as before mentioned, require near 
ten times its weight of water to dilute it sufficiently for 
printing, for which last purpose it is to be thickened 
with gum as usual. It may also be observed, that when 
cither tin, or bismuth, is to be dissolved by the nitrous 
acid only, the acid should be previously diluted by 
two or three times its weight of water, and the tin, or 
bismuth, put into the acid by small quantities at a time, 
allowing the first quantity to dissolve before the se- 
cond be added, otherwise the acid will act with so 
much violence as to calcine rather thar> to dissolve the 
metal. It is of great utility in the printing of linens or 
cottons, instead of applying the mordant previously, 
or separately from the tingent or colouring substance, 
to be able to mix and apply both together by the pencil, 
or by printing ; and for this purpose the Quercitron 
bark may be made singularly useful. A pound of it 
powdered may be boiled with two or three quarts of 
water, so as that when strained, the decoction will be 
reduced to one quart, and this, being thickened with the 
usual proportion of gum, may be thoroughly mixed with 
one ounce and a half of spirit of sea salt (strong enough 
to neutralize its weight of pure fixed alkaline salt) in 
which as much tin as it is capable of dissolving by a 
moderate heat, has been previously dissolved, and also 
with one ounce of spirit or oil of vitriol of equal strength 
In which as m.uch tin as it can retain has likewise been 



l3.4 ON OAK ifARK IN DYING, 

dissolved, and also with one ounce and a half of dou- 
ble aqua fortis, of equal strength in which as much lead 
as it can retain has been dissolved, and also with one 
ounce of that preparation of arsenick which MacqUer 
calls Sel neiltre arsenical ; and this mixture being printed 
or penciled upon linen or cotton prepared in other re- 
spects as usual, and suffered to remain some days until 
thoroughly dried, before it be rinsed or washed, will 
afford the most beautiful high bright yellow, capable of 
resisting and even improving by, the action of lemon 
juice, and also of resisting the action of soap and water, 
even in a boiling heat, for a longer time than any of the 
fast yellows given even in any way, to Imens or cottons 
from the Weld plant. And, though this yellow will ac- 
quire a brownish hue from exposure to the sun and air, it 
is by such slow degrees, and the stain is in other respects 
so durable, that this mode of employing the Quercitron 
bark will doubtless be highly useful to calico printers. 
It is a constant effect of tin, when dissolved by the ma- 
rine acid only, and employed as a mordant, to produce 
with the Quercitron bark, a clear, lively, but palish yel- 
low, which is not very durable. The same metal, dis- 
solved in nitrous acid only, produces from the Quercitron 
bark a durable kind of nankeen brown j and, dissolved in 
the vitriolick acid, it produces from the Quercitron bark 
a yellowish brown. If either of the two last solutions of 
tin be mixed with an equal portion of the solution of that 
metal by marine acid, of equal proportionable strength 
(I mean capable of neutralizing an equal quantit\ of 
fixed alkaline salt) and this mixture be used as a mor- 
dant for the Quercitron bark, it will produce a colour 
better, and more lasting, than could be obtained by a so- 
lution of tin in marine acid only. If, instead of equal 
portions of the before mentioned solutions, a little more 
of the nitrous or of the vitriolick solutions of tin be added 
to the solutions of that metal in the marine acid, and 
this last mixture be employed as a mordant, and applied, 
either separately from the Quercitron bark, to the linen, 
cotton, &c. or mixed with a decoction of the bark, a 
morst beautiful high bright yellow will be produced, 
which, in a very extraordinary manner, resists the action 
both of acids and of alkalies ; but it is more liable to be- 
come brown from the sun and air than either of the pre- 
ceding ^'ellows. If, to a decoction of Quercitron bark, 
made and gummed as has been before described, a solu- 
tion of iron by single aqua fortis be added as a mordant, 



on OAK BARK IN DYING. 135 

this mixture, printed or penciled on linen or cotton, will 
afford different shades of lasting Merde (TOie^ olive, and • 
olive-brown colours, according to the proportion of iron 
so employed; and if, instead of this mordant, a solutioa- 
of bismuth, or of lead, in aqua fortis, or of zinck, or 
regulus of antimony, in aqua regia, be mixed with the 
same decoction, a considerable variety of earthy browns, 
snuff colours, &c. may be given, which will resist acids, 
soap, and the action of the sun and air, so as to be very 
useful to calico printers. These several metallick solu- 
tionsi when intended for this use, are to be made in the 
same way, and employed in about the same degree of 
strength, as was directed when they were intended to be 
applied separately to the linen or cotton^ instead of being 
mixed with the decoction of the Quercitron bark. The 
diers of linen and of cotton manufactures will hardly 
need to be told, that the same means which enable the 
calico printers to give stains or colours partially, will 
enable them, the dyers, to give the same stains or colours 
generally ; and that the Quercitron bark, with the mor- 
dants proposed for fixing or varying its colour, will die 
all the colours, and shades of colour, before mentioned ; 
with this difference, that it will always prove most ad- 
vantageous to these diers, to apply the mordant, without 
gum, previously to the piece of linen or cotton to be 
died, and suffer it to remain some days, the more the 
better, so that it may be very thoroughly dried and con- 
solidated in the pores of the linen or cotton before it be 
rinsed off; after which it is to be died as usual with the 
Quercitron bark, in powder, allowing about one pound of 
it to every nine or ten pounds which the linen or cotton 
weighed when dry. Or these diers, if they think it pre- 
ferable, may use the Quercitron bark in the several ways 
in which they employ the Weld plant, and produce 
thereby the same effects, allowing for its superiour pro- 
portion of tingent matter, and avoiding, as has been be- 
fore observed, the use of any fixed alkaline salt, and of 
tartar, where either a yellow or a green is to be produced. 
The same observation is to be repeated to the woollen 
diers generally, with one single example ; viz, to die 
one hundred pounds of cloth, or of wool, of a bright, 
good, yellow colour, it is to be boiled the usual time, 
with the usual proportion of water, and about eighteen 
or twenty pounds of alum, but with neither tartar nor 
cream of tartar ; after which, being slightly drained or 
pressed, the cloth qx v/ool is to be removed to another 



136 ON QAK BARK IN DYING. 

suitable vessel, in which ten or twelve pounds of Quei-- 
citron bark, powdered and tied up in a suitable bag, shall 
have previously boiled for a quarter of an hour, with the 
usual quantity of water, with which the cloth or wool is 
to be died, in the same manner as is practised with the 
Weld plant, but without any alkaline salt, or lime. When 
weaker shades of yellow are wanted, the quantities of 
alum and of Quercitron bark are to be proportionably 
diminished. Cloth or wool previously died blue, of 
different shades, may in these ways acquire the various 
shades of green ; or of orange, if previously died of 
suitable reds. In other cases, the colour of the Querci- 
tron bark may be saddened and varied, by th» woollen 
diers, by the several ways and means which they em- 
ploy to sadden and vary the colours of Weld. Silk, 
prepared in the usual way, may be died of the several 
colours before mentioned from the Quercitron bark, by 
the same means, and in the same ways, as are directed 
for wool, but with less heat, as is usual ; or it may be 
partially stained, or spotted, by the decoction of Querela 
tron bark, mixed with the several metallick solutions or 
mordants, mentioned for producing the like effects on 
linen or cotton. Hair and fur are to be died from the 
Quercitron bark, in the same manner, and by the same 
means, as are described for dying wool ; and so is lea- 
ther, excepting that care must be taken to employ but a 
very moderate heat with it. To stain paper yellow, a 
quart of decoction of Quercitron bark, made in the 
same manner, and of the same strength, as has been 
described for the calico printers, may be mixed with 
about half a pound of alum, and this, being dissolved, 
may be thickened and applied in the usual manner ; or, 
if a more opake substantial colour be wanted, so much 
chalk, or calcareous earth, may be added to the decoc- 
tion as will neutralize the acid of the alum in it. The 
other combinations and variations of this colour, may 
be produced by the same means which the paper stainers 
now employ, to produce the like effects with the other 
yellows commonly used by them. There is moreover 
contained in the Quercitron bark a resinous colouring 
part, which water alone cannot dissolve or extract, but 
which may be extracted by it, with the help of about 
one pound of American pot ash, or other alkaline salt of 
equal strength, to every twenty pounds of the bark, pre- 
viously deprived of all the tingent matter which water 
alone can separate from it. Four or five pounds of linen^ 



ON HICCORT BARK IN DYING, ISf 

or cotton, or silk, or wool, boiled with resinous colour- 
ing matter thus extracted from a pound of the bark, and 
afterwards plunged into a sufficient quantity of vitriolick 
acid, diluted with water so as not to injure the linen, 
&c. will acquire a kind of nankeen colour, which seems 
to be sufficiently durable. The bark of the root of this 
species of oak, and its acorns, possess the same colouring 
properties as the bark of the trunk and branches, but in 
different proportions ; the former being considerably 
more abundant than the latter in colouring matter. 

The second of these vegetables is the North Ameri- 
can hiccory or walnut tree, termed by Linnaeus Juglans 
alba; and described in the Flora Virginica of Gronovius 
as yuglans alba^fructu minori^ cortice glabra^ and also as 
Juglans alba^fructu ovato compressor nucleo dulci^ coi'tice 
squamoso. There are several other species or varieties 
of this hiccory, the barks of which afford a yellow colour 
when boiled in water with alum, and I mean hereby to 
secure the use of all which are distinguished by this pro- 
perty ; which the rinds of the nuts, and the bark of the 
roots, of this tree, likewise possess. The tingent mat» 
ter of the hiccory is of the same nature as that of the 
Quercitron bark, and is to be communicated or used, 
varied, and fixed, by the calico printers, diers, paper 
stainers, &c. in the same ways^ and by the same mor- 
dants, as have been described for using, varying, and 
fixing the colours of the Quercitron bark, in or upon 
wool, silk, linen, cotton, paper, &c. Observing, how- 
ever, that the hiccory bark affords about one fourth less 
of colour than the Quercitron bark, and that it is less 
suitable for mixing directly with the several mordants, 
and printing or penciling on linens or cottons, as is di- 
rected to be done with the decoction of Quercitron 
bark. The hiccory bark may be powdered, without 
separating its outside part, and pressed into proper casks, 
and thus imported for use. 

The third of these vegetables is the red mangrove, 
growing spontaneously near the sea, on the continent and 
islands of Am&rica, and in other parts of the globe, 
between the tropicks of Cancer and Capricorn. It is the 
Rhizophora Mangle of Linnaeus, described by Sloane^ 
Ray, and other botannick writers, as the Mangle pyri 
foliis^ cum siliquis long'is^ ficui indicia affinis* The bark 
of this tree is of a reddish-brown colour, excepting only 
a very thin external coat, which cannot be easily separa* 
ted from the inner part, and therefore may be ground 

T 



138 ON MANGROVE BARK IN DYINO. 

ground with it when thoroughly dried ; and they may be 
packed, and imported, as is directed for the hiccory bark. 
As a colouring substance, the red mangrove bark is of 
the class of th6se whose tingent particles Monsieur 
Macquer, in his Dictionnaire de Chymie^ describes as re- 
siding partly in a substance savonneuse extractive^ and 
partly terreuse et resineuse, and therefore its colour may 
be extracted by water only, and communicated and fixed 
in wool, silk, linen, cotton, &c. without the help of any 
mordant whatever ; I think, however that the colour of 
the mangrove bark is better extracted, and considerably 
improved, by adding pot or pearl ashes to the water in 
which it is boiled, at the rate of about one pound of pot 
or pearl ashes for every thirty pounds of bark. Thus 
extracted, the colour of the mangrove may be perma- 
nently fixed in wool, silk, linen, cotton, &c. in the most 
simple manner, without the use of any mordant what- 
ever. One hundred pounds of wool, or of cotton, or 
linen may be thus dyed of a reddish brick colour, by be- 
ing only boiled with five pounds of the mangrove bark, 
powdered, and two ounces, of American pot or pearl 
ashes ; and the same quantity of silk may be also died 
by the same means, taking care only to employ a more 
moderate heat. One pound of mangrove bark, boiled 
with a thirtieth part of its weight of pearl ashes, in a gal- 
lon of water, until the decoction, when strained, is redu- 
ced to three pints, or two quarts, being thickened with 
gum, may be printed or penciled upon linen or cotton, 
and will thus give lasting stains, capable of resisting the 
action of acids, of soap, and of sun and air, for a long- 
time. The colour of this decoction may however be 
improved, varied and, I think, rendered still more du- 
rable, by the help of the several mordants directed for 
varying and fixing the colour of Quercitron bark. The 
solutions of iron, in different proportions, sadden, and 
if used in sufficient quantity, produce a black, with this 
decoction of the mangrove bark. About an ounce of 
Sel neutre arsenical of Macquer, dissolved in a quart of 
the same decoction, seems to give the colour more body 
and permanency. Lead dissolved in aqua fortis, and 
mixed with this decoction, adds to the beauty and per- 
manency of its colour. Tin dissolved in vitriolick acid, 
and also in aqua regia, produces useful variations of its 
colour ; as does bismuth dissolved in nitrous acid, and 
indeed all the other mordants directed for the Querci- 
tron bark. But as vrords can convey but imperfect ideas 



ON MANGROVE BARK IN DYINGi 139 

of the variations produced by them, and as some of their 
variations are very inconsiderable, it would be useless 
to attempt a more particular description of their effects, 
which may be seen by any person who will make the ex- 
periments. The calico printers, who would thus print 
and pencil the colours of the red mangrove, may observe 
the directions already given, respecting the preparations 
and proportions of the several metallick solutions, or 
mordants, to be mixed with the Quercitron bark. The 
diers of wool, silk, linen, and cotton, may advantage- 
ously employ all the several mordants, and also alum, 
and sugar of lead, to fix and vary the colours of the 
mangrove ; and may employ them, either previously 
applied to the substance to be died, or mixed with the 
colouring matter of the mangrove, in the proportions and 
ways directed for the Quercitron bark ; allowing only for 
this difference, that the mangrove contains about twice 
as much colouring matter as the Quercitron bark. The 
colouring matters of the foregoing vegetables, mixed 
with each other, and with oth^r dying drugs, and fixed 
by the mordants herein before mentioned, are capable 
of producing many other variations of colour, which 
those acquainted with the principles of dying and com- 
bining colours will readily perceive. Indeed almost 
every argillaceous and metallick solution which chymis- 
try affords, is more or less capable of varying and of 
fixing the colouring matters of the preceding vegeta- 
bles, though it would be useless and endless to point out 
all the ways in which these solutions may be employed or 
combined for that end ; those which I have already spe- 
cified are probably more than will ever be practised, and 
they are the most useful results of several thousands of 
experiments. In witness whereof, &c. 



OBSERVATIONS 

RELATIVE TO PRUNING ORCHARDS, BY THOMAS SKIP DYOT 
BUCKNALL, ESQ. OF CONDUIT STREET, LONDON. ABRIDGED 
FROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIEtV FOR THE EN- 
COURAGEMENT OF ARTS. 

THE silver medal of the society was voted to Mr. 
BucKNALL, for these Observations. 



|40 OBSERVATIONS RELATING TO THE 

The bark of trees consists of three divisions ; the outer, 
rough ; the middle, soft and spongy ; the inner, a whi- 
tish rind, being that which joins the bark to the wood ; 
and this last is supposed to contain the liquid sap. When 
the stem of the tree grows too fast for the bark, it causes 
blotches and lacerations ; which are avoided bv scoring the 
bark with a sharp knife ; but care should be taken not to 
cut through the whitish rind before mentioned; for that 
heals with difficulty and generally ulcerates, and being 
cut through gives insects an opportunity of getting be- 
tween the wood and the bark, when they are very de- 
structive. 

Any surgeon knows that a wound extending to the 
fine membrane, covering the bones of the human body 
requires much more skill to cure than a flesh wound, 
and the case is similar. 

In pruning, this writer directs that no branch should 
be shortened unless for the figure of the tree, and then 
taken off close at the separation, by which means the 
wound soon heals. The more the range of the branches 
shoots circularly, a little inclining upwards, the more 
equally will the sap be distributed and the better will 
the tree bear ; for from that circumstance the sap is more 
evenly impelled through every part. The ranges of 
branches should not be too near each other j for all the 
fruit and the leaves should have their full share of the 
sun ; and where it suits, let the middle of the tree be 
free from wood, so that no branch shall ever cross ano- 
ther, but all the extreme ends point outwards. 

It is impossible the bark can grow over a stump, be- 
cause there is no power to draw the sap that way ; for 
which reason always cut a little within the wood, and 
cut quick and smooth. When the leaves curl the fruit 
is always specky. All the branches should be left as 
nearly equidistant as possible, without attention to the 
beauty of the head. Blotches should be opened and 
scored ; and where the bark is ragged from any lacera- 
tion it should be pared down gently to the live wood. 
Each of these should be touched gently with the medi- 
cated tar hereafter to be described. In cutting the sur- 
geon's rule should be followed, go to the quick, but do 
not wantonly make a wound larger than is necessary. If 
a brai^ch be in such a position that in the course of two 
or three years it would be in the way the sooner it is cut 
off the better. 



PRUNING OF ORCHARDS. 141 

When trees are much thinned they are subject to 
throw out a great quantity of young shoots in the spring 
which should be carefully rubbed off and not cut, for 
cutting increases the number. 

The medicated tar, which Mr. Bucknall rubbed over 
the wounds which were made by the bill and pruning 
knife, was composed of an ounce of corrosive sublimate 
reduced to fine powder, by beating with a wooden ham- 
mer, and then put into a three pint earthen pipkin, with 
about a glass full of gin or other spirit, stirred well to- 
gether, and the sublimate thus dissolved. The pipkin 
was then filled by degrees with vegetable or common 
tar, and constantly stirred till the mixture was blended 
together as intimately as possible ; and this quantity will 
at any time be sufficient for two hundred trees. 

To prevent danger, let the corrosive sublimate be 
mixed with the tar as soon as possible after it is purcha- 
sed , for, being of a very poisonous nature to all animals, 
it should not be suffered to lie about the house, for fear 
of mischief to some part of the family. 

OBSERVATION BY T. G. F. 

The preceding paper cannot fail to prove of great 
practical utility. I would merely suggest in addition, 
that in *' scoring the bark," or preventing the tree from 
being what the farmers style " hide boun(P^ 2iguaged in- 
strument^ or a sharp instrument with a ^z^flrc? to prevent 
cutting too deep, and thus injuring the rind, which im- 
mediately embraces the body of the tree mighty perhaps 
be found useful. 



GLUE. 



FROM THE HISTORY OF THE PROGRESS AND PRESENT STATE 
OF ANIMAL CHYMISTRY BY W. B. JOHNSON, M. P. 

AT the article Gelatin^ it is observed, that it is parti- 
cularly from the white parts of animals that it is extracted, 
but as it was not intended, on discussing the component 
partSj to make any applicatign of them to the arts, an 



14^ ON THE MANUFACTURING G7 GLUL. 

account of the making of glue, and other circumstances 
attending it were reserved tor the present. 

Glue hai nearly all the properties of Gelatin j the dif- 
ference, according to Fourcroy, consisting only in the 
consistence. Gelatin has less visciditv and tenacious- 
ness, being more particularly obtained from young ani- 
mals ; whilst glue, on the contrary, is only obtained 
from old animals, whose fibre has become drier and 
more strong. 

According to du Hamel du Monceau, who has writ- 
ten perhaps, the best work on the subject, glue was prin- 
cipally prepared from a solution of the membranous, 
tendinous, and cartilaginous parts of animals ; they were 
dried, and afterwards melted into tablets. 

It is however found, that all animal'substances con- 
taining jelly, are capable of being made use of in the 
manufactory of glue ; and du Hamel likewise informs 
us, that hartshorn and bones, after having been dissolv- 
ed in Papins's digester, afforded a glue of great strength, 
but of a black colour. 

That glue might be extracted from bones, we are in- 
formed bv Papin himself. In the edition of his works 
printed in 1782, it is said, that, by means of his diges- 
ter, he had not only prepared a jelly from bones, but 
also from ivory, with which he had glued together some 
pieces of broken glass: and from experiments that have 
been since made upon them, it appears they contain it 
in a considerable quantity. 

Spielman has added a good deal of information to that 
found in Papin on this subject. Accordmg to this chy- 
mist, he has extracted glue, or dry jelly, not onlv from 
the bones, but all the hard parts of animals, simply by 
ebullition ; that he procured more or less of it from the 
teeth of the wild boar, those of the sea horse, and like- 
wise from the wood louse and the viper. 

There are several sorts of glue made in Europe. 
The English glue is esteemed the best ; it is of a brown- 
ish red colour. The hardest is looked upon as next in 
point of goodness ; it is whitish and transparent, whilst 
the most ordinary is made at Paris, and is black and 
opaque. The reason of this difference according to 
Lewis, arises from the Flemish and French employing 
bones and sinews, which do not afford so strong a glue 
as skins from which the English manufacture their glue. 
According to this chymist, the method of preparation is, 
to steep and wash the parings or cuttings of the hides in 



ON THE MANUFACTURING OF GLUE. 143 

water ; they are then boiled with fresh water till the 
liquor grows thick, when it is strained through baskets, 
suffered to settle, and afterwards further evaporated, 
till on being poured into flat moulds, it unites on 
cooling, into solid cakes, which are cut in pieces and 
dried upon a kind of net. 

Grenet has been occupied for several years with 
the melioration of this substance. He began by reading 
every thing already written on the subject ; meditated 
very much on the qualities of the substances employed, 
and submitted to experiment those which had not been 
made use of, and which appeared to him to be propel* 
for its preparation. Bones, however, produced it 
abundantly, and with great facility. He first deprived 
them of their fat, and procured the jelly by simple 
ebullition ; and this, when converted into glue by dry- 
ing, he found to be much superiour to the French kind, 
and nearly eqtial in goodness to those of the best 
markets. 

Parmentier, and Pelletier, who have also made ex- 
periments, tending to the same end, obtained from six 
pounds of the raspings of the button makers, one pound 
of glue, similar to the English sort. From the raspings 
of ivory the glue was equally as good. The raspings 
of horn they found to afford no glue. 

As jellies acquire more or less colour by exposure to 
heat, on being brought to a proper state of exsiccation, 
to procure glue as little coloured as possible, the less 
time it is exposed to heat the better ; hence, by using 
only a small quantity of water to extract the jelly, a 
less evaporation is necessary to concentrate it, so as 
to form that substance on cooling, and consequently a 
less exposure to the fire j and if the jelly be afterwards 
cut into thin tablets or cakes, they will likewise be 
more easily dried. To following this plan the Flanders 
glue is said to owe its whiteness and transparency ; 
whereas by much exposure to heat the parts become 
carbonized and black. 

Glues differ from each other in their consistence, 
colour, savour, odour, and solubility ; some of them 
dissolve very readily, when agitated in cold water, 
others are only soluble in boiling water : the best 
ought to be transparent, of a yellow inclining to a brown 
colour, without odour or savour ; it should be perfect- 
ly soluble in water, forming a viscuous fluid with it of 
an uniform consistence, and which on becoming dry, 



144 ON THE MANUFACTURING OF GLUE, 

preserves equally, in every part, its tenacitv and trans- 
parency, and, in general, attains more solidity, colour, 
and viscidity, according to the age and strength of the 
animal from which it has been extracted. 

Clennel has given the most minute account of the 
making of glue, which was obtained during a visit to 
a manufactory in Southwark He informs us, it is made 
from the parings of hides, horns of different kinds, 
pelts from furriers, and the hoofs and ears of horses, 
oxen, calves, sheep, &c. quantities of which are im- 
ported in addition to the home supply, by many of the 
great manufacturers of this article. These are first 
digested in lime water, to cleanse them, as far as it can, 
from any grease and dirt ; they are then steeped in clean 
water, stirring them well from time to time ; they are 
afterwards laid in a heap, and the superabundant water 
poured out ; they are then boiled in a large brass caul- 
dron with clean water, skimming off the dirt as it rises, 
which is further cleaned by putting in, after the whole 
is dissolved, a little melted alum, or lime finely pow- 
dered, which by their detersive properties, still further 
purge it ; the skimming is continued for some time, 
when the mass is strained through baskets and suffer- 
ed to settle, that the remaining impurities, if any, may 
subside ; it is then poured gently Into the kettle again, 
and further evaporated, by boiling a second time, and 
skimming, until it becomes of a clear but darkish brown 
colour, when it is thought to be strong enough (which 
is known either by the length of time a certain quantity 
of materials have boiled, or by its appearance during 
ebullition) it is poured into frames and moulds about 
six feet long, one broad, and two deep, where it har- 
dens gradually as the heat decreases ; out of these 
troughs or receivers, it is cut, when cold, by a spade, 
into square pieces or cakes, and each of them placed 
within a sort of wooden box, open in three divisions 
to the back ; in this the glue, as yet soft, is taken to a 
table by women ; where they divide it into three pieces 
(when by mistake, they cut only two, that w^hich is 
double the size is called a bishop, and thrown into the 
kettle again) with an instrument, not unlike a bow, 
having a brass wire for its string; with this ihey stand 
behind the box, and cut by its openings from front to 
back ; the pieces thus cut, are taken out into the open 
air, and dried on a kind of coarse net work, fastened 
to moveable sheds of about four feet square, which 



ON THE MANUFACTURING OF GLUE. 145 

are placed in rows in the glue maker's field (every 
one of which contains four or five rows of net work ;) 
when perfectly dry and hard it is fit for sale. Accord- 
ing to Lelernel, that is thought the best glue Vv^hich 
will swell considerably without melting, by three or four 
days immersion in cold water, and recover its former 
dimensions and properties by drying. Glue that has 
got frozen, or that looks thick and black may be melted 
over again and refined, with a sufficient quantity added 
of fresh, to overcome any injury it may have sustained ; 
but it is generally put into the kettle after what is in it 
has been purged in the second boiling. To know good 
from bad glue, the purchaser should hold it between 
his eye and the light, and if it appears of a dark brown 
colour, and free from cloudy or dark spots, the article 
is good. 

A superiour and colourless glue, called size^ is ob-^ 
tained from eel skins, vellum, parchment, and some of 
the white kinds of leather, &:c. but this is much too 
expensive for commoa use, and is only employed by 
those artificers whose work requires so delicate a sub- 
stance, and where glue would be too gross. Such as 
use size, are the paper maker, the linen manufacturer, 
the gilder of gold, the polisher, and the painter in various 
colours, &c. For the same purpose the skins of the cat, 
rabbit, and hare, are employed. 

Hatchet, in his experiments to investigate the com- 
position of membrane, obtained various quantities of 
gelatin, and when the solutions of it were gradually 
reduced by evaporation, has had opportunities of fre- 
quently observing the various degrees of viscidity and 
tenacity, which characterize mucilage, size, and glue. 
The difference in the viscidity and tenacity of the va- 
rieties of these substances, is, according to this chymist, 
evidently an inherent quality, and not caused by the de- 
gree of inspissation ; for if ihis was the case, mucilage, 
size, and glue, he thinks, would be of equal quali- 
ty, which is contrary to experience j for the varieties 
of glue are not of equal tenacity. Glue made from 
certain parts of animals, such as the skin, being more 
tenacious and of better quality than that which is made 
in some places from feet and sinews. It differs also ac- 
cording to age ; for the best and strongest glue is al- 
ways obtained from the more aged animals, in whom 
the fibre is found to bt most coarse and strong. But 
a longer continued boiling appears requisite to extract 

u 



-146 ON THE MANUFACTURING OF dLU£. 

it, and the more viscid glues are obtained with greater 
difficulty^ than those of a less viscid quality, which may 
more properly be called size, and this difference is to 
be observed, when muscle is boiled with repeated and 
frequent changes of water. Gelatin thus obtained, 
whether in the state of mucilage, size, or glue, when 
completely dried, is affected by water according to its 
degree of viscidity ; for when cold water is poured 
on dry mucilage, it dissolves it in a short time j but if 
cold water is poured on these varieties of gelatin which 
when dissolved in a proper quantity of boiling water, 
would, by cooling, form jellies more or less stiff, it 
acts on them in different degrees, not so much by 
forming a complete solution, as by causing them to 
swell and become soft ; so that when a cake of glue has 
been steeped three or four days in cold water, if it swell 
much without being dissolved, and^ when taken out, 
recovers its original hardness and figure, by drying, 
such glue is considered to be of the best qualit}'. 

The animal mucilage, which Hatchet employed, was 
obtained from the corall, officin. as he found it to be 
pure, and not partly modified into gelatin or animal 
jelly J or in other words, the mucilage had not ac- 
quired the degree of viscidity requisite to form a gela* 
tino'us substance. The expression is not therefore to be 
understood as alluding to any essential difference in 
composition, but only to denote some variation in the 
degree of consistency ; for the whole may be compre- 
hended under the term gelatin (vide art. gelatin) or 
which mucilage may be regarded as one extreme, and 
the strongest and most viscous glue as the other. 

As the qualities of gelatin are so various, so the pro- 
perties of the substances, in which it is present as a com<- 
ponent part, are much influenced by it ; and when, for 
example, skins of different animals are compared, he 
always found, that the most flexible skins afforded ge- 
latin more easily, and of less viscid quality than those 
which were less flexible, and of a more horny consis- 
tency. The skin of the eel possesses great flexibility, 
and it affords gelatin very readily, and in large propor- 
tion. The skin of the shark also, which is commonly 
used by cabinet makers to polish their work, was also 
soon dissolved, and formed a jelly like the former. The 
thin and tender epidermis or cuticle of these skins, al- 
though not soluble, was separated into small particles by- 
violent ebullition, and the spiculee were also separated. 



ON THE MANUFACTURING OF GLUE. 14'/ 

The skins of the hare, rabbit, calf, ox, and rhinoceros 
gave the same results ; but gelatin from the hide of the 
rhinoceros appeared the strongest and most viscid. In 
every one of the experiments, the true skin, or cutis, 
was principally affected (as Chaptal and Seguin have 
observed) by long boiling, but that of the rhinoceros 
far exceeded the others in difficult solubility. The cu- 
tis of these skins, when first boiled, swelled and appeared 
horny ; it was then graduallv dissolved ; but in the 
cutis of the rhinoceros, a few filaments remained, which 
at length contracted and adhered to the cuticle. The' 
cuticle of the different skins was softened, but not dis- 
solved ; Jlnd as the cutis seems to be entirely formed of 
gelatin, so the cuticle appears to contain it, although 
in a small proportion. It is however, necessary to its 
flexibility ; for when, after long boiling, the cuticle of 
the skin was dried, it became a brittle substance, which 
was easily reduced to powder. 

Hair was much less affected than skin. The cartilages 
of the articulations are as completely soluble as the 
cutis, when long boiled with water ; but this is not the 
case with the other cartilages ; the others afforded little 
or none. It was the same with respect to quill shavings, 
and the horns of different animals, which were next 
subjected to experiment, and all afforded small quantities 
of gelatin, and the more flexible horns the greatest quan- 
tity, with the greatest ease, and, when deprived of it, 
and suffered to dry spontaneously, in the air, they be- 
come more rigid, and were easily broken. The horns 
were those of the ox, ram, goat, and chamois, which 
are perfectly distinct from the nature of stag's or buck's 
horn ; for this is as different from the former, in 
chymical composition, as in construction. Like bone, 
it affords much phosphate of lime (vide bone) and like 
it, a large quantity of gelatin ; and it is observed by 
Hatchet, that phosphate of lime is generally accompanied 
by gelatin, as in stag's horn, bone, ivory, &c. On th^ 
contrary, when carbonate of lime is the hardening sub- 
stance, as in shells, madrepores, and millepores, no 
gelatin can be discovered; for he has frequently digested 
the substances many days in boiling distilled water, after 
having reduced them to a coarse powder, that they might 
present a large surface, and never could discover the 
slightest vestige of gelatin. Hence the above horns are 
.very different from the composition of stag's honi, and 



148 ON THE MANUFACTURING OF GLUE. 

yield gradually, and with great difficulty, only a small 
quantity of gelatin. 

Human nails and shavings of a hoof, long digested 
for several days, afforded like quill, only a slight cloud 
by nitro-muriate of tin. Tortoise-shell, in small thin 
slips and shavings, was affected in a similar manner. 

Sponges and gorgoniae, bladder, and other membranes 
afforded more or less gelatin. 

He found the effects of dilute nitrick acid on the 
substances he subjected to experiment for the obtaining 
of glue exactly kept pace with those pi boiling water, 
of which he gives an instance of two pieces of skin re- 
cently taken from the ox, one of the pieces was boiled 
in water till the whole of the cutis was dissolved ; after 
which the cuticle remained, although very feeble in tex- 
ture, while the hair did not seem to have suffered any 
material alteration. The other piece was steeped in 
nitrick acid, diluted with about four measures of dis- 
tilled water. At the end of five days the cutis was 
dissolved, and the cuticle was become of a loose and 
feeble texture, but the hair had not suffered any appa- 
rent change excepting that of being slightly tinged with 
yellow. In both cases, therefore, the effects of boiling 
water, and of acid, were similar ; and he found them 
to be more powerful on those parts which were the most 
gelatinous ; and as water dissolves mucilage more 
speedily than size, and this last more speedily than strong 
viscid glue, so are the effects of very dilute nitrick acid 
on the same substances. 

With respect to economical purposes, all animal sub- 
stances whatever (exclusive of carbonate and phosphate 
of lime) may be converted into two substances of much 
utility, viz. glue and soap, with the additional advan-. 
tage that those parts which would be rejected in making 
the one, are the most proper to prepare the other. 
The offensive smell of Chaptat's soap is considered as 
an objection, but this may be removed by exposing the 
soap for some time in flat vessels to the afr : after which 
it may be reduced to the proper degree of consistency 
by a second boiling. 



ON MAKING SUGAR FROM BEET ROOT. 149 



ACCOUNT OF THE PROCESS 

USED BY MR. ACHARD, FOR EXTRACTING SUGAR FROM BEET 
ROOT AS COMMUNICATED BY HIMj IN A LETTER TO MR. 
VAN MONS. 

FROM THE ANNALES DE CHIMIE. 

MY labours respecting the fabrication of European 
sugar have prevented my writing to you sooner. They 
have employed me, and still employ me, so much, that 
I have very little time to spare for other objects ; but, 
as I know that the subject is interesting to you, I am 
anxious to take the first opportunity of giving you some 
account of it. 

The species of beet proper for making sugar is the 
Beta Vulgaris of Linnaeus ; but all the varieties of that 
species are not equally proper. That of which the inside 
is white, the skin pale red, and the root long and 
spindle shaped, is the best. Every kind of beet yields 
sugar, but that above described should be made choice 
of, when we wish to fabricate this substance advan- 
tageously ; in other respects, the quantity of sugar 
furnished by the root depends entirely on the mode of 
cultivation. 

It follows, from the process on the fabrication of 
sugar from beet root, which I executed under the in- 
spection of a committee appointed by the king (of 
Prussia) that the best method is, to boil the root (with 
the skin, as it is taken out of the ground, and without 
any other preparation than that of carefully taking away 
the leaves and the heart) in water, till it is so soft 
that it may be penetrated by a straw. A short boil- 
ing is sufficient to produce this degree of softness, 
which is very well known to confectioners, and is 
given to several sorts of fruit, before they are pre- 
served. The beet root, after cooling, is divided, and 
cut into slices, by means of the machine made use of 
b}^ husbandmen for dividing potatoes for the use of 
cattle. This machine is described, and a figiw^e of it 
given, in Busch's publication, intitled, Uebersicht der 
fortschritte in uoissenschaften^ kunsten^ maniifactitren^ 
unci handwerken^ von Ostern 1796 his Ostern 1797 • Er- 
furt 1798. This method of dividing the root is the 
best I have hitherto discovered. Two men, with the 



ioO ON MAKING SUGAR FROM BEET ROOT. 

assistance of the machine, can cut nearlv 100 lb. of roots 
into very thin slices in three minutes. 

In order to extract the juice from the roots, after 
being sliced, they are submitted to the action of a 
press, which ought to act very stronglv, that as much 
juice as possible may be drawn from them. The pulp 
remaining in the press still contains a considerable 
portion of sugar, v/hich it is wo*-ih while to extract from 
it. For this purpose, the pulp is to be mixed with a 
sufficient quantity of water, and, after twelve hours, 
the liquor is to be pressed out. After this second 
extraction, there still remains in the pulp a sufficient 
quantitv of sacharine matter to furnish, advantageously 
bv means of fermentation, either brandy or vinegar. 

The liquors obtained by expression are to be mixed 
together, then strained through flannel, and afterwards 
evaporated, by continual boiling, to about two-thirds. 
Thev are then to be passed a second time through a 
woollen cloth, or through a very close kind of cloth 
made use of in refineries : and the strained liquor is 
to he boiled, in a vessel smaller than the first, till 
it is reduced to one half. 

The liquor must afterwards be strained a third time, 
and boiled, in a still smaller vessel to the consistence 
of a thin syrup. It is here necessary to observe, that 
bv giving the syrup too thick a consistence, there 
is a risk of spoiling the whole. 

This syrup, after being poured into shallow earthen 
vessels, which present a large surface to the air, is to 
be placed in a stove heated to from 80 to 100, or 
even to 180 degrees, of Fahrenheit, that it may crys- 
talize. During this insensible condensation of the sy- 
rup, the crvstaline crust which is formed on its sur- 
face, is now and then to be broken ; this, by assisting 
the evaporation, very much hastens the crystallization. 
From the moment it is observed that, instead of the 
crvstalUne crust, there forms on the top of the syrup 
a thick and gummy pellicle, which does not appear 
granulated, it is a liign that the substance no longer 
crvstallizes, but merely grows dry, and the evapora- 
tion should then be stopped. Vv'hat remains is a mix- 
ture, naore or less thick, of a chrystalline substance 
and a fluid but viscid matter. 

To separate the crystallized sugar from the gluti- 
nous extract, the whole mast be put into a bag made 
of close cloth, and previously wetted j it must then 



ON MAKING SUGAR FROM BEET ROOT. 151 

be submitted to the action of a press, gradually in- 
creased. The sugar remains in the bag, and the ex- 
tractive part passes through it. This sugar, alter 
being dried, is a yellow muscovado, composed of re- 
gular crystals, and, when pulverized, forms a white 
powder of a very good taste ; it is perfectly sweet, and 
may be applied to a number of purposes lor which 
refined sugar is used. By refining this muscovado, 
sugar of any quality that is wished for may be obtained ; 
the operation being repeated, according to the degree 
of purity desired. 

The whole of the waste parts arising from this pro- 
cess, that is to say, the root which has been pressed, 
the liquor which passes through the bag upon pressing 
the crystallized sugar, the washings, &c. &c. are all 
very useful, and a great quantity of very good rum 
or brandy may be procured from them, which may 
be used in making the finest liqueurs 

The muscovado, in the state in which it is obtained 
from the first operation, costs about one groschen and 
a half, of Prussia (about two-pence halfpenny) per 
pound, without reckoning all the advantages which 
may be derived from making use of the waste parts. 
By taking these into the account, and bringing the 
manipulations to greater perfection, which I shall en- 
deavour to accomplish this winter, I am persuaded, 
that our European muscovado will not cost more than 
half this price, or nine pennings (about five farthings j) 
or, even in countries in which fuel is much dearer, 
one groschen (about seven farthings.) 

The distillation of spirit from the waste parts is a 
matter of great importance ; as by that means a great 
&aving of grain will take place ; and the making of su- 
gar from the beet root, which will deliver Europe from 
an oppressive monopoly, becomes, on that account, still 
more interesting. 

I am now endeavouring to discover a method by 
which the juice of the roots may be poured, after 
being sufficiently condensed, into moulds or forms, in 
order that it may acquire immediately the figure of 
a sugar-loaf, and that it may, by claying, become 
perfectly white in one operation. I have already found 
several methods by which it appears that this end may 
be obtained by a very short process. This nev/ ma- 
nipulation will very much facilitate the making of the 
sugar, and will consequentlv diminish the price of it. 



152 ON RAISING POTATOES. 



ACCOUNT OF AN EXPERIMENT 

MADE TO DISCOVER WHETHER WHOLE POTATOES OR CUT- 
TINGS ARE PREFERABLE FOR PLANTING, WITH SOME OB- 
SERVATIONS ON TAKING UP POTATOE CROPS. BY MR. 
JOSEPH WIMPEY, OF NORTH ROCKHAMPTON. 

FROM THE LETTERS AXD PAPERS OF THE BATH AND WEST OP 
ENGLAND SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF AGRICUL- 
TURE, &C. 

EARLY in the spring of this year^ I had a large 
quantity of potatoes, out of which I selected forty-eight 
bushels of the fairest for sets. The ground intended 
for them, the summer before, had born oats and vetches, 
which were mowed green, and given to the horses in the 
stables ; after v/hich, it was depastured till January* 
It was then clean ploughed, and lay till the end of March. 
Twenty-four cart loads of long dung, forty bushels to 
the load, where then spread over it equally ; and fur- 
rows were draAvn the lengthway of the field, at a yard 
distance from each other. In eleven of these furrows, 
containing sixty perches or poles, were dropped fourteen 
bushels of whole or uncut potatoes, the size generally 
from a large pullet's egg to that of a goose. The re- 
mainder of the ground, being 265 poles (making in the 
whole 325 poles, or tv/o statute acres and five poles) 
was planted with thirt}^-four bushels of cut potatoes, 
being the remainder of the forty-eight bushels. These 
%vere cut mostly out of large potatoes, in pieces 
about the size of a large pullet's egg. The largest 
were cut into six or eight pieces, the less into four ; 
being careful to preserve a proper number of eyes or 
buds in each cutting. The sets of both cut and uncut 
were planted about fourteen inches asunder, in the 
rows. The farrows were turned out with a plough 
having a double mould-board, and, when planted, v/ere 
completely covered, by running the same plough up the 
middle of each interval, which threw the mould half 
one way and half the other ; this is the speediest, easiest, 
and cheapest method of planting I am acquainted with. 
The ground was planted the fourteenth and fifteenth 
days of April. 

In June they were horse-hosed, with a small one- 
wheeled plough, which I keep for horse-hoeing ; and 



ON RAISING POTATOES. 153 

this was all the labour and expense bestowed upon them 
during their growth. 

The 30th of October, the taking of them up was 
completed. The whole produce was only 378 bushels ; 
a very indifferent crop! little more than half the pro- 
duce per acre of last year. The expense of ploughing 
them up, harrowing, dragging, picking up, loading, 
carrying home (about a quarter of a mile) unloading, 
and carrying into the barn, &c. was not quite three 
pence a bag, or one penny a bushel. The state of the 
account, in a comparative view, I make out as follows. 

The measure of all the ground planted was 315 
poles : the whole produce was 378 bushels. The mea- 
sure of the ground planted with cut potatoes was 265 
poles : the produce 312 bushels. The ground planted 
with whole or uncut sets was 60 poles j and the produce 
of the same was 66 bushels. 

Now, if 325 poles, the whole measure of the ground 
planted, produced 378 bushels, then 265 poles should 
produce 308 bushels (I omit the fractions ;) but this 
quantity of ground, planted with cut potatoes, produced 
nearly four bushels more, that is, 312 bushels. Again, 
as 325 poles produced 578 bushels, 60 poles should 
have produced 69 bushels and a fraction ; but it pro- 
duced only 66 bushels, which is upwards of three bushels 
short of its proportion. It is true, the difference is too 
trivial to be worthy of notice ; but what it is, is in fa- 
vour of the cut potatoes. With respect to the produce 
per acre then, it is a matter of little importance whether 
the ground be planted with ciit or uncut potatoes. 

The produce per acre being nearly the same, whether 
planted with whole or cut potatoes, the great and in- 
teresting comparative question remains, viz. What is 
the difference of the expense in the planting of cut or 
uncut potatoes ? this is very satisfactorily ascertained 
as follows. 

If 48 bushels, the whole quantity of sets used, pro- 
duced 378 bushels, then 34 bushels, the quantity cut, 
should produce 267 bushels; but they produced 312, 
which is 45 bushels more than the proportion. Again^ 
if 48 bushels produced 578 bushels, then 14 bushels 
should have produced 110 bushels ; but 14 bushels of 
uncut produced only 66 bushels, which is 44 bushels less 
than the proportion. A preference of 40 per cent, in 
favour of cut potatoes, in comparison with whole sets ! 



I54f ON RAISING POTATOES. 

By this statement it clearly appears, that any quantity 
of land planted with potatoes cut into pieces of the size 
above mentioned, will, cceteris paribus^ produce as great 
a crop as an equal quantity of land planted with uncut 
potatoes, the weight of which should be forty per cent* 
more : for example. 

To plant a statute acre with potatoes, as above, would 
require, of uncut, ^7 1-2 bushels j of cut, only 20 1-2 
bushels , the difference nearly seventeen bushels ; which 
at two shillings and four pence per bushel (the price they 
sold at in March last) amounts to one pound nineteen 
shillings and eight pence. An object much too consi- 
derable to be neglected by the planter of many acres, 
even when the price may be as low as three shillings 
a sack. 

N. B. Potatoes in this country are usually sold by 
the bag. By a bag is understood a sack which will hold 
four bushels of corn, nine gallon measure, which they 
fill as full as they can, leaving room to admit of its 
being tied ; and the usUal weight is twelve score or 
two hundred and forty pounds. This sack holds three 
bushels of potatoes heaped. 

The foregoing experiment was conducted with all 
imaginable care and precision ; the facts are truly stated, 
and the ^writer hopes the calculations are just. 

P. S. In class 3, article 4, a premium is offered to 
the inventor of the best new constructed plough for 
ploughing up potatoe crops, by which the work may be 
done with the least loss, or damage to the crop. As 
my method of taking up potatoe crops is not attended 
with the least loss or damage, and is, I conceive, as ex- 
peditious and as little expensive as can be desired, I 
request leave to lay it before the Society. 

As observed before, I plant my potatoes in rows, 
with intervals of about three feet, for the convenience 
of horse-hoeing them. When the haulm is decayed, I 
proceed to take them up in the following manner, with 
a common foot or one wheel plough, much used in this 
part of Hants, and in Wilts ; the ploughman (having 
first taken out the coulter, and adjusted the wheel so 
that the point of the share may be deep enough to 
pass under the bed of potatoes) begins at one end, just 
under the middle of the row, and with one furrow 
turns them out on the surface of the ground. Two or 
thrf^e boys or girls follow the plough, and pick them 
up as they appear ; so that the ground of one row is 



ON RAISING POTATOES. 155 

cleared before the ploughman has finished another; and 
thus they proceed, without the least hindrance or inter- 
ruption to each other. 

When the whole is ploughed and picked in this man- 
ner, a pair of drags is run over the whole, which se- 
parates and exposes the potatoes that may happen to 
adhere to the clods of earth, which are then also picked 
up, and the ground nearly cleared. The season being 
now come for sowing wheat, the ground is clean plough- 
ed, and the few potatoes that may possibly remain fully 
exposed to view, which being also picked, the ground 
is rendered very clean. In this way, the whole expense 
of harvesting the crop is little more than picking up 
and carrying home ; for the expense of ploughing, &c. ^ 
is little, if any, more than would have been incurred in 
tilling the ground equally well for the wheat crop. 

Now I think it impossible, by any invention or device 
whatever, to take up a potatoe crop with less loss or 
damage. The crop of the above experiment was taken 
up under my own eye ; and I can with great truth and 
confidence aver, that there was not so much as a single 
gallon bruised, cut, or damaged, in any degree whatever. 



DESCRIPTION 



PF THE METHOD OF PREPARING OIL-COLOUR CAKES ; INVENT- 
ED BY MR. GEORGE BLACKMAN, OF HEMMING's ROW, LON- 
DON. 

JFHOM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY fOR THE ENCOURAGE- 
MENT OF ARTS, &C. 

THE greater silver Pallet and twenty guineas were 
voted to Mr. Blackman, for discovering to the Society 
for the use of the publick, his method of making the 
above mentioned cakes. 

Take of the clearest gum mastick, reduced to fine 
powder, four ounces; of spirit of turpentine, one pint; 
mix them together in a bottle, stirring them frequently 
^11 the mastick is dissolved ; if it is wanted in haste, 
some heat may be applied, but the solution is best 
when made cold. Let the colours to be made use of be 
the best that can be procured, taking care that, by 



156 ON PREPARING OIL-COLOUR CAKES. 

washing, &c. they are brought to the greatest degree 
of fineness possible. When the colours are dry, grind 
them on a hard close stone (porphyry is the best) in 
spirit of turpentine, adding a small quantity of the 
mastick varnish. Let the colours so ground become 
again dry ; then prepare the composition for forming 
them into cakes, in the following manner. Procure 
some of the purest and whitest spermaceti you can 
obtain ; melt it over a gentle fire, in a clean earthen 
vessel ; when fluid, add to it one third of its weight 
of pure poppy oil, and stir the whole well together ; 
these things being in readiness, place the stone, on which 
your colours were ground, on a frame or support, and, 
by means of a charcoal fire under it, make the stone 
warm ; next grind your colour fine with a muller ; then, 
adding a sufficient quantity of the mixture of poppy oil 
and spermaceti, work the whole together with a muller, 
to a proper consistence ; take then a piece, of a fit size 
for the cake you intend to make, roll it into a ball, 
put it into a mouldy press it, and it will be complete. 

When these cakes are to be used, they must be rub- 
bed down in poppy or other oil, or in a mixture of 
spirit of turpentine and oil, as may best suit the con- 
venience or intention of the artist. 

N. B. It may be proper to observe, that Mr. Black- 
man's colours in bladders are prepared with a mixture 
of spermaceti, and differ from his cakes only in having 
a larger proportion of oil. 

At the end of the foregoing description are testimo- 
nies from Mr. Cosway, Mr. Stothard, and Mr, Abbot ; 
stating that Mr. Blackman's oil-colour cakes, work as 
well as other oil-colours ; that their drying without a 
a skin upon the surface is a great advantage j and that 
Mr. Blackman's invention is, upon the whole, an es- 
sential improvement in oil painting. 



NEW KIND OF PAINT. 157 



NEW KIND OF PAINT, 

PROPOSED AS AN ADVANTAGEOUS SUBSTITUTE FOR PAINTIN& 
IN DIGTEMPER. BY M. CARBONELL. 

FROM THE BIBLIOTHEQUE PHYSICO-ECONOMIQUE. 

IT is well known that a disagreeable smell is per- 
ceived on entering apartments newly painted in dis- 
temper ; therefore till such apartments have been for 
some time exposed to the contact of the air, no one 
likes to inhabit them. The following process remedies 
these two inconveniencies. 

The method of operation is very simple ; it con- 
sists in substituting the serum of beef-blood instead of 
size, which is usually employed to dilute the colouring 
matter. 

1. The butcher must be requested to catch the blood 
of one or more oxen in clean vessels. When the blood 
is become quite cold, that is, in about three or four 
hours after it has been drawn, the vessels are gently in- 
clined, and by these means a transparent liquid is poured 
off, which has a slight smell of amber. It is strained 
through a piece of linen, to separate from it the parti- 
cles of blood that may be detached and mixed with 
it. 

2. Some quick lime, upon which has been thrown a 
verv small quantity of water only, for the purpose of 
diminishing the adhesion of its integral parts, must be 
reduced to powder. This powder is sifted, and it is 
instantly put away in boxes or bottles, very carefully 
closed. 

3. When the two above mentioned materials are to be 
used, the serum must be poured into a wooden or 
earthen vessel, and a sufficient quantity of the pulverized 
lime added, to give the mixture such a degree of li- 
quidity as to be easily spread with the brush over the 
surfaces that are to-be covered with it. 

4. Too great a quantity of this paint must not be pre- 
pared at once, for it very quickly becomes thick ; and 
when it has too much consistence it cannot be used. 
This inconvenience is prevented by keeping it always 
at the same degree of fluidity, by the addition of a 
sufficient quantity of serum, which should constantly be 



158 NEW KIND OF PAINT. 

kept near the vessel with the paint, to be used as oc- 
casion requires. 

5. The colour when in this state should be laid on 
as speedily as possible. 

6. As the colour resulting from the application of this 
preparation is always white, and one may sometimes 
wish to have a different colour, it is produced by ochre- 
ous earths of the red, yellow, black, or green kinds. 
A beautiful blue colour may likewise be obtained by 
employing blue glass, made with the oxyd of cobalt, 
provided the glass be reduced to an impalpable powder. 

7. As the addition of coloured ochreous materials 
must necessarily weaken the composition, it may be 
kept at the same degree of solidity by adding a few 
whites of egg to the serum employed for diluting the 
composition ; but care must be taken not to add too 
large a quantity, otherwise the paint would be liable 
to scale off. 

8. This kind of paint can only be applied on wood 
or plaster, which have not been previously covered with 
oil paint. 

9. As a single coat is not sufficient, two or three may 
be laid on when the work is required to be performed 
correctly ; but before a fresh coat is given the former 
must be perfectly dry. 

10. This paint is capable of taking a beautiful polish 
by friction, like any other kind ; but it is preferable 
to dip the cloth, with which it is rubbed, in sperma- 
ceti rather than any other kind of oil. 

11. For diluting white or coloured paint, only fresh 
serum, which has undergone no alteration, must be 
employed ; otherwise the paint would be of a worse 
quality and less permanent. 

Many precautions are necessary, particularly in sum- 
mer, for keeping the serum, because this fluid is very 
strongly disposed to putridity. It is therefore essential 
to keep it in a cool place, and to examine, before it is 
employed, whether it does not begin to smell disagree- 
ably ; for, in that case, it must not be used. 

For the same reason care must be taken to keep the 
vessels clean in which the serum is preserved, and to 
wash thum often with warm v/ater, to remove the altered 
particles of the fluid with which the sides of the vessel 
may be impregnated. 

M. Carbcnell asserts, that this paint is permanent 
when prepared with good materials ; it may even be 



NEW KIND OF PAINT* 159 

employed for painting damp walls without fear of its 
being detached, an advantage which painting in distem* 
per certainly does not possess. 

The same author likewise declares, that he has made 
numerous experiments with this same paint, and has^ 
always obtained such constant and satisfactory results, 
that he doubts not when it is known, that it will be 
generally adopted. He mentions amongst others, the 
use he has made of it, at Barcelona, both in the in- 
teriour and exteriour of houses, and he has invariably 
remarked, that it not only remained unaltered by the 
siin, the air, humidity, and dryness, but that it was 
also exempt from any disagreeable smell; so that 
places painted with it might be inhabited on the very 
day of applying it. 

At first sight one would be led to imagine, that the 
new kind of paint proposed by M. Carbonell is almost 
the same thing as the milk-paint described by M. Ca- 
det de Vaux. The latter may have answered, but when 
we reflect on the material difference that exists between 
the composition of the serum of blood and that of 
milk, we shall instantly perceive the superiority of M. 
Carbonell's paint to the other. 

For the rest, experience must decide the matter ; and 
it is to be presumed that it will not fail to show which 
of the two methods deserves to be adopted in pre- 
ference. 



ON THE MEANS OF PROMOTING 



THE GROWTH OF YOUNG FRUIT TREES, PARTICULARLY IN 
GRASS LAND. BY THE REV. MR* GERMERSHAUSEN. 



TROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE ECONOMICAL SOCIETY OF 

LEIPSIC. 



WHEN young trees stand in grass-land, or In 
gardens where the earth is not dug up every year around 
them, and freed from weeds, they do not at first increase 
properly in growth, and will not thrive so well as those 
which have been planted in cultivated ground. It hrts 



160 ON PROMOTING THE GROWTH Or FRUIT TREES. 

been remarked also, in orchards, that the more the 
ground becomes grassy, and, as it were, converted into 
turf, the fruit is smaller and not so well tasted. The 
latter circumstance takes place particularly with regard 
to plums. 

Having planted several young plum trees, I covered 
the ground, for some years, around the trunks, as far 
as the roots extended, with flax-shows,* by which 
means these trees, though in a grass field, increased in 
a wonderful manner, and far excelled others planted in 
cultivated ground. As far as the shows reached, the 
grass and weeds were choaked ; and the soil under 
them was so tender and soft, that no better mould 
could have been wished for by a florist. 

When i observed this, I covered the ground with 
the same substance, as far as the roots extended, around 
an old plum tree, which appeared to be in a languish- 
ing state, and which stood in a grass field. The con- 
sequences were, that it acquired a strong new bark ; 
produced larger and better tasted fruit ; and that those 
young shoots which before grew up around the stem, 
and which it was every year ne^-jssary to destroy, were 
prevented from sprouting forth, as the covering of flax- 
shows impeded the free access of air at the bottom of 
the trunk. 

Last year (1793) 1 transplanted from seed<-l:)eds, into 
the nursery, several fruit trees ; the ground around some 
of which I covered, as above, with ilax-shows. Not- 
withstanding the great heat of the summer, none of 
those trees where the earth was covered with shows, 
died or decayed ; because the shows prevented the earth 
under them from being dried by the sun. Of those 
trees around which the ground was not covered, as 
before mentioned, the fourth part miscarried ; and 
those that continued alive were far weaker than the 
former. 

The leaves which fall from trees in autumn may also 
be employed for covering the ground, in like manner: 
but stones, or logs of wood, must be laid on them, to 
prevent their being dispersed by the wind. In grass 
land, a small trench may be made around the roots of 
the tree, v/hen planted, in order to receive the leaves. 



Shows arc the refuse of fiax when it is scutched or hackled. 



ON OIL AS A MANUREo J6l 

If flax shows are used, this is not necessary ; they 
lie on the surface of the ground so fast as to resist 
the force of the most violent storm. The leaves 
which I have found most effectual, in promoting the; 
growth and fertility of fruit trees, are those of th^* 
walnut tree. Whether it is, that, on account of the'ir 
containing a greater abundance of saline particles, they 
communicate manure to the ground, which there;by 
becomes tender under them ; or that they attract ni- 
trous particles from the atmosphere ; or that, by both 
these means, they tend to nourish the tree, both above 
and below. 

Those who are desirous of raising tender exotick 
trees from the seed, in order to accustom them to our 
climate, may, when they transplant them, employ 
flax-shows with great advantage. This covering will 
prevent the frost from making its way to the roots ; 
and rats and mice, on account of the sharp prickly 
points of the flax-shows, will not be ablf; to shelter 
?^hemselves under them. ^ 



ON OIL AS A MANURE. 

BY C. BALDWIN, ESQ. 
FROM HUNT£K.*3 GEOaGlCAL ESSAYS. 

HAVING for many years considered oil as the 
great pabulum of plants, I was much hurt by the result 
of some experiments, which state oil as poison; and 
turning this in my thoughts a thousand times over, it at 
last occurred to me, that though oil, as oil in its crude 
state, might act as a poison, yet it might be so changed 
as to convey it with -great advantage to the soil, and I 
instantly recollected Dr. Hunter's mode by ashes ; it 
also occurred to me that rape-oil cake was known to 
be an excellent manure, that no objection had ever been 
jtiade to it but its expensiveness, and that if it \ras be- 
neficial to the soil, it could only be so from the quantity 
of oil contained in it, though that quantity must be 
very small indeed, considering the process of first 
grinding the rape seed, and the vast force used to drive 

Y 



16^ dN OIL AS A MANURE. 

out the oil, so that what remains is little more than a 
caput mortuum; yet the cake formed of these very re- 
mains is known to be a rich manure. 

Think for a moment from how many seeds, plants, 
-shrubs, and trees, we draw oil ; from rapeseed, linseed, 
mustard, fennel, anniseed, juniper, carraways, mint, 
olives, &c. Thus we evidently draw an immense 
quantity of oil from the earth, but when and how do 
we convey any to it ? I know of little or no attention 
paid to this circumstance in our compost dunghills, so 
that all the oil conveyed to them can only be from ani- 
mal dung. 

Whatever may be the quantity of oil remaining in 
each rape cake, and I believe that no one will state it 
at half an ounce each, yet it must be remembered that 
after all it is only a vegetable oil \ reflecting on this 
circumstance, and fully persuaded that animal oil must 
be much superiour to it, I directly went to town to 
inquire the price of whale or train oil, and there I was 
informed, that it was about two shillings and eight pence 
per gallon j this I considered as too expensive ; but, 
pursuing my object, I was informed by Mr. Wilfred 
Reed, oil merchant, in Thames street, that he could 
supply me with bottoms or foots of oil, and a rich, 
thick South Sea whale oil, at fourteen pence per gallon. 
This was the very thing I wished for, and directly or- 
dered sixty gallons, for a five-acre field, and thus went 
to work. Having a platform or bottom of twenty load 
of mould, with eight load of dung on it, I carried on 
three load of light sandy mould, and one load of brick 
and mortar rubbish, ground fine, and having mixed 
these well, and made a kind of dish of it, about five 
feet wide and ten feet long, \^ith a ladle we put over 
it one half of the oil. It was in August, and the 
warmth of the sun soon made the thick oil soak into this 
compost, when it was directly thrown up in a heap, 
broke down again, and by five or six turnings, well 
mixed together, and left in a heap two days, when it 
was spread equally over the whole dung hill ; twenty 
load more of good mould was then carried on, eight 
load of dung, and the remaining thirty gallons of oil 
were mixed as before, in sandy mould, and brick and 
mortar rubbish, and equally spread over, and the whole 
was covered by trimming the four sides of the dung* 
hill, and throwing it on the top. 



ON OIL AS A MANURE. 163 

Thus the dunghill lay more than two months, when 
it was cut down by mattocks, carefully broke, well 
mixed, and turned over. The end of March it was 
carried on the field, spread, and ploughed in ; it lay 
about a fortnight, was then ploughed again, and, on 
the 22d of April last, it was drilled with the Rev. 
Mr. Cooke's most excellent drill ; I mean his last, with 
hoes and scarifiers, which I think much superiour tp 
his former one : the last I think every farmer, who has 
seen it at work, will consider as incapable of further 
improvement. The field was drilled with barley, two 
bushels to the acre ; the crop came up in a most even 
and beautiful manner ; every seed was up within forty 
eight hours of each other ; all was ripe at the same 
time, and, from a couple of months after seed-time to 
harvest, was rated by all who saw it, and it was seen 
by many, as a sixty bushel crop. 

At harvest, three rows were cut across the field, 
directly thrashed and measured : one load out of thir- 
teen was also thrashed and measured, and both stated 
the crop to be sixty bushels, but, to wave all possibility 
of dispute or doubt, I am content to state the crop at 
seven quarters per acre. 

As to the quality of the barley, I could here cite the 
opinion of one of the most eminent brewers in London, 
who saw the crop growing, and declared he would rea- 
dily give lOOOl. to be assured that all the barley crops 
in the kingdom were of equal burden and weight j five 
quarters of it have been lately sent to Nethrapps, in 
Norfolk, as seed barley, u ^er the denomination of fif- 
teen comb barley ; and an eminent malster tells me it 
weighs 220 lb. per sack, or 55 lb. per bushel, Winches* 
ter measure. 

Among the many gentlemen and farmers who saw the 
crop on the ground, was the celebrated Mr. Bakewell ; 
he came with three or four others, and, walking down 
the field, observed the hedge and bank ; the bank, upon 
being touched with a stick, ran down as sand and gravel 
generally do, and Mr. Bakewell being asked his opinion 
of the value of the land, if I do not mistake, valued it 
at eighteen pence per acre, but turning to the crop, and 
desiring his friends to do so also, he admitted that it 
seemed as if growing on land of fifteen shillings or 
twenty shillings per acre. 

I must not omit saying that the barley followed oats, 
ppon a lay of six years old, that the land was, as is 



164 ON OIL AS A HANunr. 

too common in such cases, much infested with the little 
red or wire worm, and that the oats suffered much from 
them ; when we were ploughing for the barley the first 
time, I observed many turned up by the plough, when z 
distant ray of hope instantly darted upon my mind, that 
the oil in its then state, or from its strong effluvium, 
might prove obnoxious to them, and I am happy in say- 
ing, that the barley did not suffer from them in the least. 

I can, however, add here, that I am now trying that 
experiment in Hampshire, having last autumn made up 
a dunghill, with twenty gallons of oil, on one-third of it, 
for a six acre field, which is now drilled with pease. 

It is well known that all animal substances, in a state 
of corruption, wonderfully promote vegetation, and are 
the actual food of plants. 

The whale oil which I used is an animal substance, 
perhaps the richest part of the animal ; whether I used 
enough, or what is the proper quantity per acre, expe- 
rience must point out. Say I used eight loads of mould, 
three or four loads of dung, and twelve gallons of whale 
oil, per acre. 

That c«l applied to land, as a food for plants, in its 
crude state, acts as a poison, I cannot deny ; but my pro- 
cess is very different ; I believe that oil, particularly 
animal oil, is the pabulum of plants, that is, oil subtili- 
zed by the salts in a compost dunghill, left there a con- 
siderable time, in a state of putrefaction, and until the 
whole is become putrescent, then^ I say, I believe I have 
got the best and richest manure that can be carried on 
land. Ai 

The barley evidently proved its excellence ; a ridge of 
summer cucumbers, in my garden, pointed out to many 
its great power, the leaves being in general from ten to 
ten and a half inches broad, and the vines occupied an 
uncommon space of ground. Five hundred cabbages and 
savoys, planted by the side of four thousand more, and 
which had only one handful of the oil manure put into 
each hole made by the dibble, at the time of planting, 
were evidently near as big again as the others. 






IMPROVEMENT IN JBAGOINC WJEAVING. l^i 



SPECIFICATION 

OF THE PATENT GRANTED TO BENJAMIN HADEN, OF THE PA-* 
RISH OF SED6LEY, IN THE COUNTY OF STAFFORD, BAGGING- 
WEAVER; FOR AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE 
OF BAGGING FOR PACKING OF NAILS, AND OTHER PURPO- 
SES* DATED FEBRUARY 28, 1803. 

TO all to whom these presents shall come, &c, 
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 
I the said Benjamin Haden do hereby declare, that my 
said invention of an improvement in the manufacture of 
bagging for packing of nails, and other purposes, is de- 
scribed in manner following ; that is to say : I take for 
my warp, hurds, or tow, prepared in the usual way, such 
as are at present used in making nail bagging, but for 
my weft or woofs I take old ropes, or junk, of any di- 
mensions J and after untwisting or dividing the threads 
or filaments thereof, I wind the same into bobbins or 
quills, and they then become fit for the shuttle, and I 
weave them along with the common warp in the com- 
mon way. I do not confine my invention to bagging for 
nails, but the same may be used with advantage for bag- 
ging for coals, cokes, and for various other purposes, 
where strength and durability are required, needless to 
be mentioned here. In witness whereof, &c. 

Observations by the patentee. 

I wish it to be known to those persons who are in the 
habit of using bagging for which my invention is calcula- 
ted, that the materials I have described in my specifica- 
tion are peculiarly adapted to give strength and durabi- 
lity to that article. The yarn of which ropes are gene- 
rally made, particularly king's ropes, is spun from the 
choicest hemp, and strongly impregnated with tar. The 
threads taken from the middle of such ropes, not having 
been exposed either to the weather or to friction, are as 
sound and as strong as when originally used ; and, if not 
quite equal to new, can be but little inferiour. The 
tarry matter with which these threads are impregnated, 
renders them peculiarly advantageous in the manufac- 
turing of coal-sacks ; the weft being composed of these 
threads, fine spun, good and strong, adhere firmly to 
the warp made from hemp in the original way. Sacks 



166 ' ON RAISING POTATOES. 

made of this cloth arc strong, tenacious, and not liable 
to rent or perish by wet, to which those in present use 
are particularly subject. The superiority of this inven- 
tion for nail bagging is very conspicuous : the weft of 
those now used is made from the coarsest refuse of flax 
or hemp that can be procured- The consequence of 
which is, that the bags frequently perish and burst in 
carriage, to the great loss of those concerned. 



fimjji^^3M.mmj-uims7^ 



FURTHER OBSERVATIONS 

RESPECTING THE BEST MANNER OF PLANTING POTATOES. BY 
MR JOSEPH WIMPEY, OF BRATON-CLOVELLY, NEAR OKE- 
HAMPTOMj DEVON. 

FROM THE LETTERS AND PAPERS OF THE BATH AND WEST OF 
ENGLAND SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF AGRICUL' 
TURE, &C. 

I FORMERLY gave an account of an experiment 
made to discover whether whole potatoes or cuttings are 
to be preferred in planting.^ 

From that account it clearly appeared, that the advan- 
tage lay greatly on the side of cuttings. But as, from 
long experience, I know conclusions drawn from single 
experiments cannot be safely depended on, and as the re- 
sult of that experiment differed so widely from an ac- 
count given by a very respectable correspondent of the 
society, whose accuracy is well known, and of whose 
probity and veracity I have the highest opinion, I re- 
solved to repeat my former experiment as exactly as 
possible, by way of establishing a fact so interesting 
to the pubiick, if found just, or of retracting an errour, 
if it should appear to be one. 

In the spring of 1791, I prepared about three acrrs 
of ground, and in April planted it with potatoes. A 
certain quantity of the largest and finest were selected, 
one half of which were planted whole, the other cut into 
pieces of a moderate size. An exact account of each 



* For Mr. Wimpey's former observations on planting potatoes, se^ 
pge 152. 



ON RAISING POTATOES. 167 

was kept at taking up, when it appeared that the produce 
per acre was much the same as in the former experi- 
ment ; but, as the cut potatoes planted nearly four times 
the ground that the whole sets did, the advantage lay, in 
the same proportion, on the side of planting with cut 
potatoes ; therefore I think there cannot be the least 
doubt that the preference is to be given to cuttings, as 
the success of the two experiments so nearly coincides. 

I have been used for some years to furnish my neigh- 
bours with potatoes for planting. The last season, one 
of them desired I would let him have them all small. 
He said he had planted small ones several years, that he 
found them equally productive with the largest, and 
saved much trouble in cutting. Others (who carried 
their economy much farther) preferred the largest ; they, 
it seems, used to -pare them, ,|o cat the fleshy part, and 
to plant the rinds only. Upon inquiry, I found this was 
not an unusual practice among the cottagers ; and, I have 
been credibly informed that they get as large crops, and 
as good potatoes, in that method of planting as in any 
other whatever. If this be a fact, it seems to appear, 
that the fleshy part of the bulb is of no use in supplying 
nourishment to the young fruit, after the fibrous roots 
have put forth, and laid hold of the ground. Perhaps an 
experiment of this sort may be thought worth making. 

REMARKS BY T. G. F. 

The observations and experiments of Mr. Wimpey 
contradict the generally received opinions of American 
agriculturists; who, I believe, generally suppose it to be 
good economy to reserve the largest potatoes for plant- 
ing. It is thought by many that large potatoes when 
planted, supply, by their decay, pabulum to the young 
plants. It, however, often happens that sound potatoes 
of some kinds, when planted without cutting, decay but 
little, previous to digging the new crop ; and as it cannot 
be supposed that they furnish food for the young plants 
without having undergone the putrefactive process, the 
latter will derive no benefit from the original potatoe. It 
is probable, however,if a large potatoe were cut into slips, 
in order to facilitate putrefaction, and the slips all planted^ 
the produce would cateris paribus be greater than if the 
potatoe were planted whole. 



16S ON A WATER PRdOF COMPOSITION^. 



MR. CHARLES FREDERICK MOLLERSTEN'S 

PATENT FOR A COMPOSITION TO RENDER LEATHER, WOOLLEN 
CLOTH, LINEN, AND OTHER STUFFS WATER PROOF, IMPENE- 
TRABLE TO HOT AND CORRODING LIQUORS, &C. GIVING 
THEM A FINE GLOSS, PRESERVING THEM FROM DECAJ, ANB 
KEEPING THEM SOFT AND PLIABLE, DATFD JAN. 1805. 

TO prepare the composition of a black colour, Mr, 
MoUersten gives the following directions : 

" Take two gallons of linseed oil, one gallon of whale 
oil, half a pound of horse grease, mingle them with four 
pounds of finely ground Prussian blue, and four pounds 
of lamp black, and afterwards boil them over a strong 
fire ; to which add one pound of fine ground benzoin 
gum, previously well mingled in one gallon of linseed 
oil, of which one half gallon is to be put in the above, 
when the composition has boiled half an hour, and the 
remainder when the boiling is finished. This composi- 
tion is sufficiently boiled when it gets so thick that ne 
drops Jail from any thing dipped into it; and it is after- 
wards fit for use when cold. 

'' For making the composition of other colours. The 
genuine linseed oil must be well bleached : to two gal- 
lons of which put half a gallon of spermaceti oil, and half 
a pound of Prussian blu<i, place them in a glass vessel in 
a strong sun (the effect may be increased by burning 
glasses if necessary) and when they have attained the 
same consistency as the black composition, after having 
boiled one half hour, take one pound of benzoin gum 
mixed with one gallon of linseed oil bleached, add one- 
half of it to them and place the same in the sun, as be- 
fore ; and, when it has again attained the same consis- 
tency as the black composition, add the remaining half of 
the gum and oil." 

Mr. MoUersten recommends that the colours used 
should be at least one half of metallick compositions, as 
he is not certain that colours composed of animal substan- 
ces only will answer the purpose : he also observes, that 
the Prussian blue mixed with the other colours renders 
the substances on which they are put capable of resisting 
hot and corrosive liquors^ though without it they will 
resist wet equally well. 

Mr. MoUersten directs the composition to be laid very 
thin at first, on the substances to which it is to be applied, 
and that scvaping irons be used for this purpose. 



MOULDS TO MANUFACTURE EDGE TootS* 169 

The substances are then to be stretched on a board of 
frame over blanketing, and put into an oven to dry the 
composition, and this operation is to be repeated till the 
substances have attained the proper gloss and smooth- 
ness ; besides the scrapers, pumice stone is to be used 
in the intervals of drying, to make the surfaces smooth 
and even : from four to six repetitions of the lackering 
and drying will generally complete the process. 

OBSERVATIONS BY THE EDITORS OF THE RETROSPECT 
OF DISCOVERIES. 

One of the directions for boiling the composition 
should riot be followed too exactly, or the whole compo- 
sition will probably be spoiled, that is, " to boil it till no 
drops fall from any thing dipped into it ;^^ this is one of 
those extremely vague rules which those who are well 
acquainted with a process frequently give, from not con- 
sidering that those they desire to instruct are not suffi- 
ciently acquainted with such operations to know that 
they mean by such phrases any thing but the literal 
sense. The direction would probably be nearer the 
truth if it was, that the matter should be boiled till it ad- 
hered to any thing dipped into it ; or till the whole of 
the matter adhering to any thing dipped into it did not 
again fall off in drops. 



MR. BELL'S PATENT 



FOR MAKING MOULDS TO MANUFACTURE KNIFE, RAZOR, Ai!*B 
SCISSOR BLADES, VARIOUS EDGE TO<OLS, FORKS, FILES, AND 
NAILS. DATED MARCH, 1805. 

THE moulds mentioned in the title of this patent 
cxjnsist of certain impressions cut into steel or cast iron 
rollers ; which rollers are fixed so to correspond with other 
rollers, that a heated bar of metal passed between them 
shall assume the intended shape by being forced into the 
cavities of the rollers, by their motion round. 

Mr. Bell very properly states that the object of his {>a* 
tent is the peculiar figures or impressions cut on the fa* 
ces of his rollers ; fer the invention of forming articles 

z 



170 METHOD OF PRESERVIKG TREES. 

into particular shapes by passing thcQi^ under figured 
rollers can claim no novelty, and any. merit of it will 
have to be divided with several other patentees. 

For the description of his rollers, :Mr. Bell refers 
principally to the figures in his drawings ; one of them 
viewed endways presents the figure of a serrated (or 
ratchet) wheel. It is easy to conceive that a flat bar, 
will, by being passed under this roller with a due com- 
pression, be formed into a number of oblong pieces, thick 
at the back, and gradually tapering to the edge. 

Another roller is cut the reverse way of this first, its 
cavities continue all round, and form a number of circu- 
lar grooves, deep at one side, and gradually sloping up- 
wards to the surface ; a flat bar rolled under this roller 
will be also formed into a number of pieces, of the same 
shape as the others before mentioned, but of a much 
greater length, and by it may also be shaped into lengths 
sloping from the upper extremity towards the point, -as 
well as from the back to the edge, by having the circular 
cavaties cut less deep at one side of the roller than 
another, and gradually sloping round from the deepest 
part to the shallowest. 

The rollers described are the only ones of which 
drawings are given ; the figures on the surfaces of the 
others wanted, may easily be imagined from these. 

Mr. Bell declares his principal object is to manufac*. 
ture copper sprigs, or nails, by these rollers, previous to 
heading. 



METHOD 



OF PRESERVING YOUNG PLANTATIONS OF TREES FROM BEING 
INJURED BY HARES OR RABBITS. BY WILLIAM PATTEN- 
SON, Esq. OF IBORDEN, KENT. 

FROM tn'k TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGE- 
MENT OF ARTS, &C. 

HARES, rabbits, and rats, have a natural antipa- 
thy to tar ; but tar, though fluid, contracts (when expo- 
sed to the sun and air for some time) a great dryness, 
and a very binding quality ; and^ if applied to trees in 
its natural state, will occasion them to be bark bound. 



THE BEST MODE OF TAKING HONEY. 171 

To remove this difficulty, tar is of so strong a savour, 
that a small quantity, mixed with other things, in their 
nature loose and open, will give the whole mixture such 
a degree of its own ' ^ce and smell, as will prevent hares, 
&c. from touching what it is applied to. 

Take any quantity of tar, and six or seven times as 
much grease, stirring and mixing them well together ; 
with this composition brush the stems of young trees, as 
high as hares, &c. reach, and it will effectually prevent 
their being barked. I believe, if a plantation of ash 
(which they are very fond of) were made in a rabbit- 
warren, this mixture would certainly preserve it. These 
animals do great mischief amongst flowering shrubs, and 
are particularly fond of Spanish broom. Scorpion senna, 
and evergreen Cytisus. I have had those shrubs eaten 
down to a stump ; but, as the mixture cannot be conve- 
niently applied to them, I have enclosed their branches 
with new tar twine, putting it several times round the 
shrub, which has had the desired effect. Tar twine, by 
being exposed to the air and raip, will lose its smell, 
consequently must be renewed as occasion requires ; but 
the mixture is always to be preferred, where it can be 
used. 

REMARK BY T. G. F. 

It is probable that the abovementioned composition 
%fould preserve young trees in nurseries from the depre-? 
dations of the field mouse, which are often fatal to young 
fruit trees in many parts of the United States. 



THE BEST MODE OF TAKING HONEY. 

FROM THE LITERARY MAGAZINE. 

THE following easy method of taking honey, with- 
out destroying the bees, is the method generally adopted 
throughout France. In the dusk of the evening, when 
the bees are quietly lodged, approach the hive and turn 
it very gently over ; having steadily placed it in a small 
pit previously dug to receive it, with its bottom upper- 
most, cover it with a clean new hive, which has been 



172 DESCRIPTION OY A SUB-MARINE VESSEL. 

previously prepared, with two small sticks stuck across 
its middle, and rubbed with some aromatick herbs. Ha- 
ving carefully adjusted the mouth of each hive to the 
other, so that no aperture remains between them, take 
a small stick, and beat gently round the sides of the 
lo-vver hive for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, in 
which time the bees will leave their cells in the lower 
hive, ascend and adhere to the upper one. 7'hen gently 
lift the new hive, with all its tenants, and place it on the 
stand from whence the other hive was taken. Thia 
should be done some time in the week preceding mid- 
summer dav : that the bees mav have time, before the 
summer flowers are faded, to lay in a new stock of honey, 
which they will not fail to do, for their subsistence 
through the winter. As many as have the humanity and 
good sense to adopt this practice, w^ill find their reward 
in the increase of their stock, and their valuable produce. 



DESCRIPTION 



©F A SUB-MARINE VKSSEL OR DIVING MACHINE, INVENTED 
BY MR. D. BUSHNELLj OF CONNECTICUT. 

FROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAlJr PHILOSOPHICAL 

SOCIETY. 

THE external shape of the sub-marine vessel bore 
some resemblance to two upper tortoise shells of equal 
size, joined together.; the place of entrance into the 
vessel being represented by the opening made by the 
swell of the shells, at the head of the animal. The 
inside was capable of containing the operator, and air 
sufficient to support him thirty minutes without receiving, 
fresh air. At the bottom, opposite to the entrance, 
was fixed a quantity of lead for ballast. At one edge, 
which was directly before the operator, who sat upright, 
was an oar for rowing forward or backward. At the 
other edge was a rudder for steering. An aperture, at 
the bottom, with its valve, was designed to admit wa- 
ter, for the purpose of descending ; and two brass 
forcing pumps served to eject the water within, when 
necessary for ascending or descending, or continuing at 



BESCRIPTION OF A SUB-MARINE VESSEL* 1^3 

any particular depth. — A water gauge or barometer de- 
termined the depth of the descent, a compass directed 
the course, and a ventilator within supplied the vessel 
with fresh air, when on the surface. 

The entrance into the vessel was elliptical, and so small 
as barely to admit a person. This entrance was surround- 
ed with a small elliptical iron band, the lower edge of 
which was let into the wood of which the body of the ves- 
sel was made, in such a manner, as to give its utmost sup- 
port to the body of the vessel against the pressure of the 
water. Above the upper edge of this iron band there was a 
brass crown, or cover, resembling a hat with its crown 
and brim, which shut water tight upon the iron band; the 
crown was hung to the iron band with hinges, so as to 
turn over sidewise, when opened. To make it perfectly 
secure when shut, it might be screwed down upon the 
band by the operator, or by a person without. 

There were in the brass crown three round doors, 
one directly in front, and one on each side, large 
enough to put the hand through — when open they 
admitted fresh air ; their shutters were ground perfectly 
tight into their places with emery, hung with hinges, 
and secured in their places when shut. There were 
likewise several small glass windows in the crown, for 
looking through, and for admitting light in the day time, 
with covers to secure them, There were two air pipes 
in the crown. A ventilator within drew fresh air through 
one of the air pipes, and discharged it into the lower 
part of the vessel ; the fresh air introduced by the 
ventilator expelled the impure light air through the other 
air pipe. Both air pipes were so constructed, that they 
shut themselves whenever the water rose near their tops, 
so that no water could enter through them, and opened 
themselves immediately after they rose above the water. 

The vessel was chiefly ballasted with lead fixed to its 
bottom ; when this was not sufficient, a quantity was 
placed within, more or less, according to the weight of 
the operator ; its ballast made it so stiff, that there was 
no danger of oversetting. The vessel with all its ap- 
pendages, and the operator, was of sufficient weight to 
settle it very low in the water. About two hundred 
pounds of the lead, at the bottom for ballast, would be 
let down forty or fifty feet below the vessel i this ena- 
bled the operator to rise instantly to the surface of the 
water, in case of accident. 



174 DESCRIPTION OF A SUB-MARINE VESSEL. 

When the operator would descend, he placed his 
foot upon the top of tke brass valve, depressing it, by 
which he opened a large aperture in the bottom of the 
vessel, through which the water entered at his pleasure ; 
when he had admitted a sufficient quantity, he descended 
very gradually; if he admitted too much, he ejected as 
much as was necessary to obtain an equilibrium, by the 
two brass forcing pumps, which were placed at each 
hand. Whenever the vessel leaked, or he would ascend 
to the surface, he also made use of these forcing pumps. 
When the skilful operator had obtained an equilibrium, 
he could row upward or downward, or continue at any 
particular depth, with an oar, placed near the top of the 
vessel, formed upon the principle of the screw, the axis 
of the oar entering the vessel j by turning the oar one 
way he raised the vessel, by turning it the other way 
he depressed it, 

A glass tube eighteen inches long, and one inch dia- 
meter, standing upright, its upper end closed, and its 
lower end, which was open, screwed into a brass pipe, 
through which the external water had a passage into the 
glass tube, served as a water-gauge or barometer. There 
was a piece of cork, with phosporus on it, put into the 
water gauge. When the vessel descended the water rose 
in the wattr-gauge, condensing the air within, and bear- 
ing the cork, with its phosphorus, on its surface. By 
the light of the phosphorus, the ascent of the water in 
the gauge was rendered visible, and the depth of the 
vessel under water ascertained by a graduated line. 

An oar, formed upon the principle of the screw, was 
fixed in the fore part of. the vessel; its axis entered the 
vessel, and being turned one way, rowed the vessel for- 
ward, but being turned the other way rowed it backward ; 
it was made to be turned by the hand or foot. 

A rudder, hung to the hinder part of the vessel, 
commanded it with the greatest ease. The rudder was 
made very elastick, and might be used for rowing for- 
•ward. Its tiller was within the vessel at the operator's 
right hand, fixed, at a right angle, on an iron rod, which 
passed through the side of the vessel ; the rod had a 
crank on its outside end, which commanded the rud- 
der, by Hieans of a rod extending from the end of the 
crank to a kind' of tiller, fixed upon the left hand of the 
rudder. Raising and depressing the first mentioned 
tiller turned the rudder as the case required, 



DESCRIPTION OF A SUB-MARINE VESSEL. 175 

A compass marked with phosphorus directed the 
course, both above and under the water; and a line and 
lead sounded the depth when necessary. 

The internal shape of the vessel, in every possible 
section of it, verged towards an ellipsis, as near as the 
design would allow, but every horizontal section, al- 
though elliptical, yet as near to a circle as could be ad- 
mitted. The body of the vessel was made exceedingly 
strong ; and to strengthen it as much as possible, a firm 
piece of wood was framed, parallel to the conjugate dia- 
meter, to prevent the sides from yielding to the great 
pressure of the incumbent water, in a deep immersion. 
This piece of wood was also a seat for the operator. 

Every opening was well secured. The pumps had 
two sets of valves. The aperture at the bottom, for 
admitting water, was covered with a plate perforated 
full of holes to receive the water, and prevent any 
thing from choaking the passage, or stopping the valve 
from shutting. The brass valv^* might likewise be 
forced into its place with a screw, if necesary. The 
air pipes had a kind of hollow sphere, fixed round 
the top of each, to secure the air-pipe valves from in- 
jury : these hollow spheres were perforated full of holes, 
for the passage of the air through the pipes : within 
the air pipes were shutters to secure them, should any 
accident happen to the pipes, or the valves on their 
tops. 

Wherever the external apparatus passed through the 
body of the vessel, the joints were round, and formed 
by brass pipes, which were driven into the wood of 
the vesjsel, the holes through the pipes were very exactly 
made, and the iron rods, which passed through them 
were turned in a lathe to fit them ; the joints were also 
kept full of oil, to prevent rust and leakmg. Particular 
attention was given to bring every part, necessary for 
performing the operations, both within and without the 
vessel, before the operator, and as conveniently as could 
be devised ; so that every thing might be found in the 
dark, except the water-guage and the compass, which 
were visible by the light of the phosphorus, and no- 
thing required the operator to turn to the right hand 
or to the left, to perform any thing necessary. 



176 DESCRIPTION or A SUB-MARINE VES6iX» 



DESCRIPTION OF A MAGAZINE, AND ITS APPENDAGES. 
DESIGNED TO BE CONVEYED BY THE SUB-MARINE VES- 
SEL TO THE BOTtOM OF A SHIP. 

In the fore part of the brim of the crown of the sub- 
marine vessel, was a socketj and an iron tube, passing 
through the socket ; the tube stood upright, and could 
slide up and down in the socket, six inches: at the top 
of the tube was a wood screw, fixed by means of a rod, 
which passed through the tube, and screwed the wood- 
screw fast upon the top of the tube. By pushing the 
wood-screw up against the bottom of a ship, and turn- 
ing it at the same time, it would enter the planks ; dri- 
ving would also answer the same purpose ; when the 
wood-screw was firmly fixed, it could be cast off by urt- 
screwing the rod, which fastened it upon the top of 
the tube. 

Behind the sub-marine vessel was a place, above the 
rudder, for carrying a large powder magazine ; this was 
made of two pieces of oak timber, large enough, when 
hollowed out, to contain one hundred and fifty pounds 
of powder, with the apparatus used in firing it, and 
was secured in its place by a screw, turned by the opera- 
tor. A strong piece of rope extended from the maga- 
zine to the wood-screw above mentioned, and was 
fastened to both. When the wood-screw was fixed, and 
to be cast off from its tube, the magazine was to be cast 
off likewise by unscrewing it, leaving it hanging to the 
wood-screw : it was lighter than the water, that it might 
rise up against the object, to which the wood-screw and 
Itself were fastened. 

Within the magazine was an apparatus, constructed 
to run any proposed length of time, under twelve hours | 
when it had run out its time, it unpinioned a strong 
lock resembling a gun lock, which gave fire to the pow- 
der. This apparatus was so pinioned, that it could 
not possibly move, till, by casting off the magazine 
from the vessel, it was set in motion. 

The skilful operator could swim so low on the surface 
of the water, as to approach very near a ship in the 
night, without fear of being discovered, and might, if 
he chose, approach the stem or stern above water, with 
very little danger. He could sink very quickly, keep 
at any depth he pleased, and row a great distance in 
any direction he desired, without coming to the surface, 
and when he rosc to the surface, he could soon obtain 



DESCRIPTION OP A SUB-MARINE VESSEL. iff 

a fresh supply of air, when, if necessary, he might 
descend again, and pursue his course. 

EXPERIMENTS MADE TO PROVE THE NATURE AND USE 
OF A SUB-MARINE VESSEL. 

The first experiment I made was with about two 
ounces of gunpowder, which I exploded four feet under 
water, to prove to some of the first personages in Con^ 
necticut that powder would take fire under water. 

The second experiment was made with two pounds of 
powder enclosed in a wooden bottle, and fixed under a 
hogshead, with a two inch oak plank between the hogs- 
head and the powder ; the hogshead was loaded with 
stones as deep as it could swim i a wooden pipe de- 
scending through the lower head of the hogshead, and 
through the plank, into the powder contained in the 
bottle, was primed with powder. A match put to the 
priming, exploded the powder, which produced a very 
great effect, rending the plank into pieces j demolishing 
the hogshead j and casting the stones and the ruins of 
the hogshead, with a body of water, many feet into the 
air, to the astonishment of the spectators. This experi* 
ment was likewise made for the satisfaction of the gen« 
tlemen above mentioned. 

I afterwards made many experiments of a similar na= 
ture, some of them with large quantities of powder | 
they all produced very violent explosions, much more 
than sufficient for any purpose I had in view. 

In the first essays with the sub-marine vessel I took 
care to prove its strength to sustain the great pressure of 
the incumbent water when sunk deep, before I trusted 
any person to descend much below the surface : and I 
never suffered any person to go under water without 
having a strong piece of rigging made fast to it, until I 
I found him well acquainted v/ith the operations neces- 
sary for his safety. After that I made him descend and 
continue at particular depths, without rising or sinking, 
row by the compass, approach a vessel, go under herj 
and fix the wood-screw mentioned before, into her bot° 
tom, &c. until I thought him sufficiently expert to put 
my design into execution. 

I found, agreeably to my expectations, that it required 
many trials to make a person of common ingenuity a 
skilful operator. The first I employed was very ingeni=. 
ous, and made himself master of the business, but was 

A a 



178 SUB-MARINE EXPERIMENTS. 

taken sick in the campaign of 1776, at New York, be- 
fore he had an opportunity to make use of his skill, and 
never recovered his health sufficiently afterwards. 

EXPERIMENTS MADE WITH A SUB-MARINE VESSEL. 

After various attempts to find an operator to my wish, 
I sent one, who appeared more expert than the rest, 
from New York, to a fifty gun ship, lying not far from 
Governour's island. He went under the ship, and at- 
tempted to fix the wood screw into her bottom, but 
struck, as he supposes, a bar of iron, which passes from 
the rudder hinge, and is spiked under the ship's quar- 
ter. Had he moved a few inches, which he might have 
done, without rowing, I have no doubt but he would 
have found wood where he might have fixed the screw ; 
or, if the ship were sheathed with copper, he might 
easily have pierced it: but not being well skilled in the 
management of the vessel, in attempting to move to 
another place, he lost the ship ; after seeking her in vain, 
for some time, he rowed some distance, and rose to the 
surface of the water, but found daylight had advanced 
so far, that he durst not renew the attempt. He says 
that he could easily have fastened the magazine under 
the stem of the ship, above water, as he rowed up to 
the stern, and touched it before he descended. Had he 
fastened it there, the explosion of one hundred and fifty 
pounds of powder, (the quantity contained in the maga- 
zine,) must have been fatal to the ship. In his return 
from the ship to New York, he passed near Governour's 
Island, and thought he was discovered by the enemy on 
the island ; being in haste to avoid the danger he feared, 
he cast off the magazine, as he imagined it retarded 
him in the swell, which was very considerable. After 
the magazine had been cast off one hour, the time the 
internal apparatus was set to run, it blew up with great 
violence. 

Afterwards, there were two attempts made in Hud- 
son's river, above the city, but they effected nothing. 
One of them was by the aforementioned person. In 
going towards the ship, he lost sight of her, and went a 
great distance beyond her : when he at length found her, 
the tide ran so strong, that, as he descended underwater, 
for the ship's bottom, it swept him away. Soon after 
this the enemy went up the river, and pursued the boat 
which had the sub-marine vessel on board, and sunk it 



SUB-MARINE EXPERIMENTS. 179 

with their shot. Though I afterwards recovered the 
vessel, I found it impossible, at that time, to prosecute 
the design any further. I had been in a bad state of 
health, from the beginning of my undertaking, and was 
now very unwell j the situation of publick affairs was 
such, that I despaired of obtaining the publick attention, 
and the assistance necessary. I was unable to support 
myself, and the persons I must have employed, had I 
proceeded. Besides, I found it absolutely necessary, 
that the operators should acquire more skill in the ma- 
nagement of the vessel, before I could expect success ; 
which would have taken up some time, and made no 
small additional expense. I therefore gave over the pur- 
suit for that time, and waited for a more favourable op- 
portunity, which never arrived, 

OTHER EXPERIMENTS MADE WITH A DESIGN TO FIRE 

SHIPPING. 

s In the year 1777, I made an attempt from a whale 
boat against the Cerberus frigate, then lying at anchor 
between Connecticut river and New London, by draw- 
ing a machine against her side, by means of a line. The 
machine was loaded with powder, to be exploded by a 
gun lock, which was to be unpinioned by an apparatus, 
to be turned by being brought along-side of the frigate. 
The machine fell in with a schooner at anchor, astern of 
the frigate, and concealed from my sight. By some 
means or other it was fired, and demolished the schoo- 
ner and three men — and blew the only one left alive over- 
board, who was taken up very much hurt. 

After this I fixed several kegs under water, charged 
with powder, to explode, upon touching any thing, as 
they floated along with the tide, I set them afloat in the 
Delaware, above the English shipping at Philadelphia, 
in December, 1777. I was unacquainted with the river, 
and obliged to depend upon a gentleman very imper- 
fectly acquainted with that part of it, as I afterwards 
found. We went as near the shipping as he durst ven- 
ture. I believe the darkness of the night greatly deceiv- 
ed him, as it did me. We set them adrift to fall by the 
ebb, upon the shipping. Had we been within sixty rods 
I believe they must have fallen in with them immedi- 
ately, as I designed ; but, as I afterwards found, they 
were set adrift much too far distant, and did not arrive 
until after being detained some time by frost, they ad- 



iSO NEW INVENTED CaMPOUND. 

vanced in the day time, in a dispersed situation, and 
under great disadvantages. One of them blew up a boat 
with several persons in it, who imprudently handled it 
too freely, and thus^ave the British that alarm which 
brought on the battle of the Kegs, 



SUBSTANXE 



OF A SPECIFICATION OF A PATENT GRANTED TO DENNI« 
MCCARTHY. OF ROMNET ROW, WESTMINSTER, ESQUIRE ; FOR 
HIS NEW INVENTED COMPOUND FOR COVERING HOUSES, AND 
FOR OTHER PURPOSES. 

TAKE three bushels of any white fluxing sand , 
mix it with one bushel of salt ; calcine it in a furnace, 
till it becomes a hard substance, pound or grind it fine, 
and take of the powder one bushel ; add one bushel of 
whiting, or white clay, (or whiting and clay, of each 
one half,) and one bushel of calcined ground flint ; or 
ground glas5 may be substituted for the articles first 
abovementioned (salt and sand) and white silver sand 
for flints ; or plaster of Paris may be mixed with the 
clay. The compound may be made of a beautiful pearl 
or slate colour by putting into it a proper quantity of 
smalt. When this compound is mixed, moisten it with 
water, and work it well together, either with the feet, 
shovel, or plasterer's beaters, till of a proper consistency 
to form into moulds ; then press it in the moulds, sha- 
ped as fancy may direct, and when dry burn them in a 
kiln, as you bum potter's ware. The size should be 
according to the distance of the rafters ; and so placed 
that the joints may meet in the centre of the rafters, and 
either over a close made joint, or be made to fit in each 
other, in a ribbet ; and these are to be fastened to the 
rafters by pegs or screws, nails, or any other fastening, 
and the joints should be closed with stone cement, tarras, 
or fine mortar. 



ON PRESERVING SEEDS. 181 



ON PRESERVING SEEDS 

IN A STATE FIT FOR VEGETATION. — BY JOHN SNEYD, ESQ. 
OF BELMONT, STAFFORDSHIRE. 

FROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOU- 
RAGEMENT OF ARTS, &C. 

MANY years ago, having observed some seeds 
which had got accidentally amongst raisins, and that they 
were such as were generally attended with difficulty to 
raise in England, after coming, in the usual xuay^ from 
abroad, I sowed them in pots, within a framing; and, 
as all of them grew, I commissioned my sons, who were 
then abroad, to pack up all sorts of seeds they could 
procure, in absorbent paper, and send some of them sur- 
rounded by raisins, and others by brown moist sugar , 
concluding, that the former seeds had been preserved, 
by a peculiarly favourable state of moisture thus afforded 
them. It occurred, likewise, that as many of our com- 
mon seeds, such as clover, charlock, &c. would lie dor- 
mant for years within the earth well preserved for veg:e- 
tation, whenever they might happen to be thrown to the 
surface, and exposed to the atmosphere, so these foreign 
seeds might be equally preserved, for many months at 
leasts by the kindly covering, and genial moisture', that 
either raisins or sugar afforded them. This conjecture 
was really fulfilled ; as not one in twenty of them failed 
to vegetate, when those of the same kinds^ that I ordered 
to be sent lapped in common parcels, and forwarded with 
them, would not grow at all. 

I observed, upon examining them all, before , they 
were committed to the earth, that there was a prevailing 
dryness in the latter, and that the former looked fresh 
and healthy, and were not in the least infested by in- 
sects, as was the case with the others. 

It has been tried, repeatedly, to convey seeds (of many 
plants difficult to raise) closed up in bottles, but without 
success ; some greater proportion of air, as well as a 
proper state of moisture, being perhaps necessary. 

I should observe, that no difference was made in the 
package of the seeds, respecting their being kept in 
husks, pods, &c. so as to give those in raisins or sugar 
any advantage over the others : all being sent equally 
guarded by their natural teguments. Whether any ex- 



182 DESCRIPTION OF A TEST FOR WINE. 

periments of this nature have been made by others, I 
am totally ignorant ; but I think that, should this mode 
of conveyance be pursued still more satisfactorily than 
I have done, very considerable advantages might result 
from it. 



DESCRIPTION OF A LIQUOR 

FOR DISCOVERING, IN WINES, THE PRESENCE OF SUCH ME- 
TALS AS ARE INJURIOUS TO HEALTH. BY DR. HAHNEMAN. 

FROM THE JOURNAL DE PHYSIQUE.j 

THE property which liver of sulphur and hepatick 
air possess, of precipitating lead of a black colour, has 
long been known, and this property has been made use 
of in the preparation of a liquor called Liquor probato- 
rius Wurtembiirgiciis^ by which it was supposed the pu- 
Yity of wines might be ascertained. 

But, in examining wines which aresuspectedto be adul- 
terated, this liquor can by no means be trusted to, because 
it precipitates iron of the same colour as it does lead, 
which is so poisonous a metal. For this reason, many 
respectable wine merchants have been thought guilty of 
adulterating their wines, to the great injury of their 
character. 

Consequently there was still wanting a test or re-agent 
that should point out, in wines, the presence of such 
metals only as are injurious to health. This property 
the foUownng liquor possesses, as it precipitates lead and 
copper of a black colour, arsenick of an orange colour, 
&c. It does not, however, precipitate iron, which fre- 
quently, by various means, gets unobserved into wines, 
l^ut which is generally harmless, and in many cases salu- 
tary, to the human frame. 

rREPARATION OF THE NEW PROBATORY LIQUOR. 

Mix together equal parts of oyster shells and crude 
brimstone, both finely powdered : put the mixture into 
a crucible, and place the crucible in a wind furnace. 
When it is heated, let the fire be suddenly increased, 



ON EVAPORATING SALT WATERS, 183 

till the crucible becomes of a white heat, in which state 
it is to be continued for about a quarter of an hour. The 
mass, when cold, is to be reduced to powder, and kept 
in a bottle closely stopped. 

In order to prepare the liquor, one hundred and twenty 
grains of the above powder, and one hundred and eighty 
grains of cream of tartar, are to be put into a very strong 
bottle, which is to be filled up with common water, 
that has been previously boiled for about an hour and 
then suffered to cool. The bottle must be immediately 
corked, and afterwards shaken from time to time. When 
it has remained still for a few hours, the clear liquor 
must be decanted into small phials, capable of holding 
one ounce, into each of which, twenty drops of spirit of 
sea-salt have been previously dropped. The mouths of 
the phials must then be well closed with stopples, com- 
posed of wax mixed with a small quantity of turpentine. 

If one part of the above liquor be mixed with three 
parts of the wine meant to be examined, the slightest 
impregnation of lead, copper, &c. will be immediately 
discovered, by 'a very perceptible black precipitate. 
But, if the wine contains iron, the liquor will have no 
effect upon that metal. 

When the above precipitate has subsided to the bot- 
tom, we may find out whether the wine contains any 
iron, by decanting the clear liquor, and adding to it a 
little salt of tartar ; if there is any iron in the wine the 
liquor will immediately turn black. 

Wines which are pure and unadulterated, remain clear 
after the addition of this liquor. 



DESCRIPTION 



OF THE BAVARIAN METHOD OF EVAPORATING SALT WATERS. 
BY MONSIEUR BONNARD. BULLETIN DES SCIENCES, NO. 90. 

THIS method has been introduced into the salt 
work of Moyenvie by M. Cleiss, inspector of the salt 
works of Bavaria. 

The pans are formed of plates joined by their edges, 
which are turned downwards, and consequently without 
the pan : they are solidly united by a piece in the form 



184 ON EVAPORATING SALT WATERS* 

of a square gutter, which receives the edges, and is secu- 
red by a great number of screws. 

The evaporating house contains six pans, disposed in 
two rows : these pans have different uses, which require 
a particular arrangement. 

That in the middle of the back row is the smallest; 
it has no particular fireplace, but is heated by the junc- 
tion of the chimnies from the other fireplaces. The 
salt water deposits its impurities in it : it is called the 
small pan. 

From the small pan the salt water passes into the gra- 
duating pan, which is lower than the first, and placed in 
the middle of the front row ; it is there kept in a state of 
constant ebullition : the water is concentrated in it 20 
degrees, and deposits a part of its sulphurated lime. 

From the graduating pan the salt water passes into 
the preparing pans, which are lower than it, and situated 
at the two extremities of the back row ; there it is also 
kept constantly boiling: it is completely concentrated, 
and deposits all its sulphate of lime ; it is then passed 
into the chrvstaUiziogpans, placed still lower than those 
of preparation, at the two extremities of the front row j 
there the water scarcely boils, and the salt chrystallizes. 

Each pan, except the small one, has a particular fire-^ 
place, the chimnies of which pass round the sides of the 
pan ; they unite under the small pan, by which means 
little heat is lost. 

These pans are placed two and two, in chambers of 
wood, the joinings of which are well secured : these 
chambers are low, and their ceilings are perforated in the 
middle with holes terminating in a tube, by means of 
v/hich the aqueous vapour is disengaged with rapidity. 
The chambers for the crystallizing pans have tl^eir 
ceilings pyramidal, or in the form of a reversed hop- 
per ; while that over the small pan and the graduating- 
pan is flat. 

The saline waters are passed successively into these 
four kinds of pans : the workmen penetrate into the 
chambers, in the midst of the vapours, to open the 
communications between the pans. This operation is 
performed every six hours, and the water in each pan 
is restored to the level at which it stood six hours be- 
fore. Every three hours the salt in the crystallizing 
pans is collected. It is brought with scoops to eleva- 
tions on the front edge of the crystallizing pans, where it 
drains.; it is afterwards carried into drying rooms. 



QN EVAPQI14TING 54LT WATER. 185 

which surround the outside of the chambers : these are 
spaces covered with iron plates ; they are warmed by 
heat-tubes passing from the fireplaces. 

Every eight days they take away the sulphate of lime, 
throw out the mother waters, and bj*eak the shell ; that is 
to say, the incrustations of salt which adhere to the bot- 
toms of the pans : every twenty-four days the work is 
entirely stopped, to repair the pans, which is performed 
by the workmen themselves. It has been found that 
this method of evaporation saves more than one third of 
the fuel. 

An improvenfient has been made lately in this process 
at Dieuse : the small pan has been suppressed, and the 
drying pans|have been replaced by auxiliary pans, in 
which a coarse salt is made. 

The heated drying rooms are useless, When the hu- 
midity of the salt arises from the muriate of lime which 
it contains. 



OBSERVATIONS BY THE EDITOJIS OF THE I^ETROSPECT Ot 

CISCOVERIES. 

The principal difference of this apparatus from those 
in common use consists in the preparatory pans, and in 
the method of uniting the iron plates to form the pans 
themselves. 

By the use of the preparatory pans, the marine salt 
can be obtained more pure, from its leaving behind in 
them the earthy salt, with which it is mixed ; and much 
saving will also arise in fuel from this method^ obviating 
the necessity of altering the temparature of the liquor at 
different parts of the process ; in the course of which, 
parts of the apparatus are cooled in the old way, which 
must be again heated, but which always remain at the 
same temparature in the mode of management described. 

The method of uniting the iron plates, to form the 
pans, it is also apprehended will make a much tighter 
joint than that in use for the same purpose in this coun- 
try^ and less liable to give way : however, it seems that 
rivets would do as well for fastening the bent edges of 
the plates as the screws mentioned, and would certainly 
cost much less ; but perhaps the use of the screws may 
afford a facility to the workmen for the repair of the 
pans, which may amply pay for their cost. ^ Mr. Man- 

B h 



186 MEtHOD OF CONNECTING IRON BARS. 

ley, near Chester, obtained a patent, in 1801, for a me- 
thod of making salt, in many respects similar to the 
above described ; for which see Repertory of Arts, vol. 
XV. First Series, 



METHOD OF CONNECTING IRON BARS, 

AND COATING THEM WITH LEAD, SO AS TO FORM SOLID PIL- 
LARS FOR LIGHT HOUSES, ON ROfcKS COVERED AT HIGH 
WATER, WITHOUT BEING SUBJECT TO CORROSION FROM THE 
ACTION OF SEA WATER. BY CAP. JOS. BRODIE, OF THE 
HOYAL NAVY.— TRANS. SOC OF ARTS, VOL. XXII. 

IN this method, four square rods of cast iron are 
composed of a number of pieces two feet long, and so 
rivetted together, that the ends of the component pieces 
are uniformly distributed, producing the effect of one 
bar of double the breadth and thickness of the smaller 
ones; a hollow tube of cast iron formed from a number of 
separate pieces, each about 10 inches long, which, when 
placed round the connected iron bars and screwed toge- 
ther, form a mould, into which melted lead is to be 
poured, to coat the rods or bars. By these means, the 
rods may, by small portions at a time, be completely co- 
vered with melted lead, so as to form a cylindrical pillar 
apparently of lead. The hollow cylinder is readily 
formed to any length required, by the junction of a 
number of semi-cylinders, fitting each other and rivetted 
together. 

After a certain portion of the iron rods is coated with 
lead, the lower parts of the tube are taken off and placed 
higher up, so that a few tubes may answer the purpose 
of coating any length of the iron rods* 



o^ THE us;e qf calces qf iron in dying. 187 



ON THE USE OF OXYDS OR CALCES 

OF IRON IN OYlNa COTTOIf. BX J. A. CHAPTAL. 
FROM THE ANNALES DE CHEMIE. 

THE oxide of iron has so strong an affinity to 
cotton, that if a cotton thread is dipped in a saturated 
solution of iron, in any kind of acid the thread in- 
stantly acquires a buff colour, more or less deep, ac- 
cording to the strength of the liquor. This affinity 
may be shown by the following experiment, which is 
both curious and easy to be made. If a skein of cot- 
ton thread is dipped into a solution of green vitriol, 
rendered turbid by the oxide which remains suspended 
therein, and the cotton is moved about in the liquor, 
it will take up every particle of the oxide, and thereby 
restore to the liquor the transparency it had lost ; 
after which, the solution, which at first had a yellowish 
hue, becomes more or less green, according to its 
strength. 

The colour given to the cotton by the oxide of iron, 
grows darker merely by the exposure to the air ; and 
this colour, which is soft and pleasant when the cot- 
ton is taken from the bath, becomes harsh and ochrey 
by the progressive oxidation of the metal. 

The colour given by the oxide of iron is very per- 
manent ; it not only resists air and water ; but alkaline 
lies, or soap, give it brilliancy, without sensibly dimi- 
nishing its intensity. 

On account of these properties, the oxide of iron has 
become an essentia] ingredient in the art of dying, 
being considered as a colouring principle of the utmost 
value. I have been so fortunate as to extend the use 
of this oxide ; but shall confine myself at present to 
such results, as have been found worthy of a place in 
the operations of the dier, and have for several years 
been practised with success in my manufactory. 

In order that the oxide of iron may be conveniently 
applied upon the cotton thread, we must begin by making 
a solution of the said oxide j for which purpose, acids 
are the most useful solvents. 

In most places, diers make a secret of the acid they 
employ j but it is always either the acetous, the vitriolick^ 
the nitrous, or the marine acid. 



18'8 ON THE USE t)F CALCES OF IRON IN DYING. 

Some diers pretend there is a great difference in the 
effect of the different acids, but, in general, thev give 
the preference to the acetous. 

This preference appears to me to be founded much 
less on the difference of colour produced by the different 
salts, than on the different degree of corrosive power 
which each salt exerts upon the cotton. The power of 
the mineral acids is so great, that if the stuff is not 
washed when taken out of the bath, it will certainly be 
corroded ; whereas, the solutions made in the acetous, 
or any other vegetable acid, are not attended with this 
disadvantage. 

Iron appears to be as much oxidated by being dissolved 
in one acid as in the other, since it produces the same 
shade of colour when precipitated; and any acid may 
be employed, without distinction, provided the degree 
to which the acid is saturated, and the nature of the 
salt formed therewith, are sufficiently known ; for the 
subsequent operations may be regulated by the know- 
ledge of these circumstances, so as to avoid the ineon- 
veninences attending the use of some of these salts. 
This is, in the first instance, an advantage the man of 
science has over the common workman, who knows not 
how to vary his process according to the nature and state 
of the salts he makes use of. 

I shall at present only point out what colour may be 
obtained by means of the oxide of iron ; first, when 
employed by itself, on stuff which has been properly 
prepared for receiving the Adrianople or Turkey red. 

First. If sulphate of iron, or any other martial salt, 
be dissolved in water, and cotton be dipped in it, it 
will, as was before said, acquire a buff colour, more or 
less deep, according to the strength of the solution ; 
and the affinity of the cotton to the iron is so strong, that 
it attracts the metal, and takes it in gregt measure from 
the acid in which it was dissolved. 

Secondly. If iron be precipitated from a pretty strong 
solution, by an alkaline liquor (of five or six degrees, 
Baume's areometer) a coagulum of a greenish blue co- 
lour will be formed ; if cotton be macerated therein, it 
will immediately acquire an irregular and dirty green 
colour, which, by mere, exposure to the air, will, in 
a short time, turn to a very deep yellow colour. 

By these processes, or similar ones, diers produce 
what are called ochre or rust colours. 

But these colours are attended with several incon- 



On the use of calces of iron in dying. 189 

veniences ; first, when they are very deep, they cor- 
rode or wear the stuff ; secondly, this colour is- harsh, 
and does not mix well with the soft colours produced 
from vegetables. 

I endeavoured to remedy these inconveniences, and 
I succeeded in the following manner, 

I soak the cotton in a cold solution of green vitriol 
(of three degrees of strength) and, having wrung it 
carefully, I immediately plunge it into a lie of pot-ash 
(of two degrees) upon which I pour a saturated solu- 
tion of alum. The colour then grows brighter, and 
becomes infinitely more fine, more soft, and more 
pleasant. The vitriol no longer corrodes the substance 
of the cotton, and, after it has remained four or five 
hours in the bath, it may be taken out to be wrung, 
washed, and dried. 

In the above manner, by graduating the strength 
of the solutions, we may obtain all the shades of co- 
lour that can be desired. This simple process, the 
theory of which must be obvious to every chymist, 
produces a colour which is very agreeable, very per- 
manent, and, above all, very economical. I employ it 
with success in dying fustians, &c. the colour of which 
is infinitely more permanent than that of the English 
ones, having the advantage of alkaline lies. The only 
defect I have found in the colour is, that it turns brown 
by the action of astringents. 

I thought, for some time, that it might be possible 
to combine this yellow colour with the blue of indigo, 
so as to produce a permanent green, but hitherto I have 
been disappointed in my hopes. It appears, from the 
different trials I have made with this substance, that 
there is not a sufficient affinity between the blue of 
indigo and the oxide of iron; for I could never ob- 
tain any other than a dirty, muddy green, very cloudy 
and faint. 

The oxide of iron, on the contrary, combines very 
readily with the red of madder, and the combination 
produces a light violet colour, the use of which is as 
extensive as it is advantageous in the cotton manu- 
factory. 

But, if these two colours were to be applied to cot- 
ton, without having first employed a mordant capable 
of fixing the latter, the colour would not only remain 
dull and unpleasant, from the impossibility of brighten- 
ing it, but it would also have the great defect of not 



190 ON THE USE OF CALCES OF IRON IN DYING. 

being able to resist the alkaline lies. We must there- 
fore begin by preparing the cotton as if for receiving 
the Turkey red ; and, when the preparation is carried 
on as far as the operation of galling, the cotton is to 
be dipped into a solution of iron, more or less strong, 
according to the nature of the violet colour desired. 
The cotton is then to be carefully washed, twice dipped 
in a decoction of madder, and afterwards brightened in 
a solution of soap. 

When a true violet colour, very rich and full, is re- 
quired, the cotton is not to be put into the solution of 
iron till it has been galled : the iron is then precipi- 
tated in the form of a bluish oxide, which, when com-p 
bined with the red colour, produces a very rich purple 
colour, more or less full, according to the strength of 
the galling, and that of the solution of iron. It is, 
hovv^ever, very difficult to obtain an uniform colour by 
this process : indeed, an uniform violet colour is con- 
sidered by the diers as a master-piece ; and it is gene- 
rally supposed, that this great difficulty, of so much 
consequence in the art of dying, cannot be overcome 
without the most skilful management. Nevertheless, I 
am convinced that the principal cause of the irregu- 
larity in this die is, that the iron deposited on the cot- 
ton becomes oxidated merely by exposure to the air, 
which exposure varies in different parts of the cotton. 
The threads w^hich are on the outside of the skein, are 
strongly oxidated ; while those on the inside, not be- 
ing exposed to the action of the air, suffer no change. 
It therefore follows, that the inside of the skein acquires 
^ faint colour, while the outer part acquires a very dark 
violet. The only way to prevent this inconvenience is, 
to wash the cotton when it \e taken from the solution of 
iron, and to put it into the decoction of madder while 
yet moist. The colour thereby becomes more uniform 
and more rich. 

The solvents of iron, for this colour, are nearly the 
same as for the yellow colour already mentioned. 

I shall omit every thing respecting the manual opera- 
tions of the process, and shall confine myself merely 
to the chymical ones ; for which reason, I shall men- 
tion an observation which niay serve as a guide to the 
workman, in brightening the violet colour upon cotton. 

The red of the madder and the oxide of iron, by 
Iteing deposited on the cotton, produce a violet colour. 
This colour inclines to red, or blue, as one or the 



ON THE USE OF CALCES OF IRON IN DYING. 191 

Other of these two principles predominate. The dier 
knows, by experience, how difficult it is to obtain such 
a combination as will produce the shade of colour he 
desires, especially when he wishes it to be very full,' 
brilliant, and permanent. It may, however, be obtained, 
not only by varying the proportions of the two colouring 
principles, but also by varying the process of bright- 
ening. It is only necessary to be acquainted with the 
two following circumstances, viz. that barilla destroys 
the iron j and that soap, by strong boiling, consumes 
the colour of the madder. For this reason, the colour 
may be made to incline to red, or to blue, according as 
the brightening is performed with one or the other 6f 
these mordants. Thus, cotton taken from the madder 
bath, washed, and brightened with a proper quantity 
of soap, will be of a rich violet colour ; whereas, by 
brightening it with barilla, we shall obtain only a light 
violet colour. 

The oxide of iron, when precipitated on any stuff, 
combines very advantageously with the fawn colour fur- 
nished by astringents ; and, by varying the strength of 
the mordants, an infinite number of shades may be pro- 
duced. In this case, the result is rather a simple mix- 
ture, or juxtaposition, of the colouring particles on the 
stuff, than a chymical combination or solution of prin- 
ciples. We may indeed, by a boiling heat, combine 
the oxide of iron more intimately with the astringent 
principle ; it is then brought into the state of a black 
oxide, as BerthoUet has observed. 

It is possible also to turn these colours brown, and to 
give them a variety of shades, from a light grey to a 
deep black, merely by dipping the cottons, impregnated 
with the astringent principle, into a solution of iron. 
The oxide itself is then precipitated by the astringent 
principle, which is fixed upon the stuff. 

A circumstance which may become of great import- 
ance to the art of dying is, that all the most usual 
vegetable astringents afford a yellow colour, which, al- 
though it is not very bright, is sufficiently durable to 
be advantageously employed. This yellow colour in 
vegetables is capable of being brightened in proportion 
as the astringent principle diminishes, and the liveliness 
of the colour increases in the same proportion. It is, 
on this account, difficult to obtain yellow colours which 
are at the same time durable and brilliant ; these two 
valuable qualities being in an inverse ratio to each other. 



1:92 ON THE USE OF CALCES OF IRON IN DYING, 

But it is possible to mix these two colouring principles 
in such a way as to unite durability to brilliancy. Green 
oak bark unites perfectly well with woad or yellow weed 
{Reseda Luteola j) and sumach unites well with quer- 
citron bark. From such mixtures, in combination with 
the oxide of iron, we may produce vegetable colours, 
the brilliancy of which is equal to their durability. 

I shall conclude these reflections with an observation 
relative to the use of astringents in dying cotton. 

It has been supposed that, in dying cotton red, the 
place of galls might be supplied by an increased quan- 
tity of sumach, alder bark, or oak bark. I wish this 
were the case, as the high price of galls very much en- 
hances the expense of the colours died with them ; 
whereas I could procure sumach at a low price, as it 
^rows almost every where in the dry parts of our south- 
ern provinces ; but I can affirm, that it is impossible to 
supply the place of galls with these substances, in 
whatever proportion they are employed ; the colour pro- 
duced from them being always more pale and faint, and 
less permanent. I know that what is here said does not 
apply to dying wool and silk, for which the above sub- 
stances are successfully employed ; and, upon consider- 
ing the cause of this difference, it appears to me to 
arise from the nature of the galls. In the first place, 
the acid they contain is different from that of other as- 
tringents (as Berthollet has proved) and facilitates the 
decomposition of the soap with which the cotton is 
impregnated ; hence, a greater quantity of oil remains 
fixed in the substance of the cotton, and is more inti- 
mately combined with it. Secondly, galls, being pro- 
duced by means of insects, always retain a certain 
degree of animal nature, which they impart to the cot- 
ton, thereby increasing its affinity to the colouring 
principle of the madder. The use of animal substances 
in facilitating this combination is well known ; but wool 
and silk being themselves animal substances, it is unne- 
cessary, in operating upon them, to make use of galls. 



ON I'REVENTING ACQIBENTS IN CAUKlAGES, 193 



MR. JOHN LEWIS'S PATENT 

FOR A MEANS OF PREVENTING ACCIDENTS IN WHEEL CAR- 
RIAGES. DATED FEBRUARY 1802* 

THE specification of this patent describes three con- 
trivances for preventing accidents to carriages. 

The first is a method of disengaging the horses from 
the carriage at pleasure ; to effect this, a sort of catches 
are contrived, which secure firmly in their places, the ex% 
tremities of all the traces, back-bands, and other straps, 
which connect the horses with the carriage, as long as 
they are untouched ; but which has each a spring bolt so 
.fixed, that on drawing it in one direction, the strap is 
instantly disengaged from it ; small chains, or wires, run 
from each of these bolts, and finally unite in one chain, 
which running over a pulley, or connected with a crank 
or quadrant to alter its direction, passes into the carriage, 
to the handle ; which, on being pulled, of course draws all 
the bolts, and disengaging every connection of the horses 
to the carriage, separates them effectually : where neces- 
sary, the direction of each separate chain or wire is 
altered by a pulley, or crank, in a similar manner to that 
of the principal chain which communicates motion to 
them all. It is easy to conceive how these principles 
may be applied to carriages of different constructions. 

The second contrivance, applicable to all carriages, is 
a ratchet wheel with a catch, commanded by a wire oi* 
chain, in somewhat similar manner to that already de- 
scribed, on pulling which the catch falls into the ratchet 
and prevents its turning but in one direction : one of 
these ratchet wheels is to be made fast to each wheel of 
the carriage, by which it may be prevented from running 
down hill, when the horses are disengaged, or prevented 
from pressing on the horses in a similar situation 

The third contrivance is intended for two wheel car- 
riages ; it consists of a sort of prop united by a hinge, 
either to the fore or back part of the carriage, and is sus- 
tained out of the way by a spring catch under the car- 
riage ; from this catch a wire or chain passes, and unites 
with those, already described, for disengaging the hor- 
ses, by which means, on the handle before mentioned 
being pulled, at the same instant in which the horses are 
disengaged, the prop falls down, and prevents the car- 
riage from pitching over. 

c c 



194 ON PREV£NTING ACCIDENTS IN CARRIAGES. 

As two wheeled carriages are hung so very far back at 
present, Mr. Lewis recommends that one of these props 
should be used at the back part of the carrbgc as well as 
at the front ; he directs that a light wheel, six or eight 
inches diameter should be placed at the lower extremity 
of each prop, to prevent their breaking from a too sud- 
den stop of the motion when let down; and that a spring 
should be fixed to each, both to accelerate its fall, and 
retain it in its place when down, for which latter purpose 
a serrated catch, or ratchet, is also fixed to it, which pres- 
ses against the axle, or some other fixed post, when the 
prop is down. 

OBSERVATIONS BY THE EDITORS OF THE RETROSPECT 
OF DISCOVERIES. 

The Society of Arts have offered, and,^ we believe, 
given more than one premium for inventions for pre- 
venting accidents in carriages, which may be seen de- 
scribed in their transactions : the principle must be nearly 
the same in all ; but those here described seem to be as 
simple and efficacious as any yet made publick, except 
that for which Mr. J. Williams obtained a patent. (See 
Rep. Arts, Vol. I. New Series.) 

Two wheeled carriages are much more liable to dan- 
ger than four wheeled, and depend more on the horses : 
no contrivance can absolutely ensure safety in them when 
the horse is unruly : at present they are made so very 
light, that the least accident breaks them ; the shafts par- 
ticularly are much too v/eak in all : their seats are also 
generally hung too far back. It is a mistake to think 
that this eases the horse ; if the weight were thrown for- 
ward so as to let him bear a moderate proportion of it, 
he would move easier, particularly in bad roads, and up 
hills ; and also, as can be demonstrated, would have his 
power of draught increased, while at the same time 
the carriage would be rendered much more safe by this 
arrangement. 

A contrivance which has already been adopted in a 
few instances, would make the shafts much less liable to 
break, without increasing their weight. In this method 
they are joined, each by a strong hinge to the carriage, 
from the under part of which a spring projects beneath 
each;:hrft, to the extremity of which ^ is secured, cither 
by a small brace, or iron loop, fastened to it a few inches 



CALCAREbUS AND GYPSEOUS EARTH. 195 

before the hinge ; this not onl} prevents the shafts break- 
ing by the yielding of the springs, but also in a great 
degree renders the jolting motion of the horse less 
perceptible. 



EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS 

ON CALCAREOUS AND GYPSEOUS EARTH. BY MR. CHAN- 
CELLOR LIVINGSTON. 

FROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION 
OF AGRICULTURE, ARTS, AND MANUFACTURES, INSTITUTED 
IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

THE use of Gypsum as a manure, seems in some 
measure to have created a new era in agriculture ; prior 
to this it was generally admitted, that, though farming 
might rank among the rational amusements, it could not 
be considered as a profitable employment for those whose 
avocations or dispositions do not permit them to attend 
to that infinite catalogue of minutiae, which high wages 
to the labourer, and the \ow^ price of produce render es- 
sential in our rural economy. The farmer's profit, being 
the joint result of the fertility of his ground and his la- 
bour, the excess of the first can only compensate for a 
deficiency of the last. Thus the acquisitions of the 
gentleman farmer, (who may lay his account in being 
worse served than the common husbandman) must be 
principally derived from the means which a large capital 
affords him of fertilizing his ground. 

These means, however, are too often beyond the 
reach of those, even. who are willing to purchase them» 
Calcareous earths are within every man's reach, and 
yield so certain a return from soils to which they are 
adapted, as to ensure a decided profit upon the capital 
employed in procuring them. 

It is now three years since I have commenced my ex- 
periments upon Gypsum, I shall lay the result before 
the society ; though they may not appear new to many , 
gentlemen present, they may incite others to a further 
prosecution of this subject, and to a more regular and 
accurate register of their experiments, than can be ex- 



196 CALCAREOUS AND OYPSIOUS EARTH. 

pected from one in my situation, who can only pursue 
agriculture as an amusement — which must, like every 
other pleasurable relaxation, give way to the duties 
which my station requires. 

After stating a great number of experiments, the ho- 
nourable writer draws his inferences, and explains his 
opinion of the theory of the operation of this species of 
manure as follows. 

1st. That Gypsum in small quantities has no visible 
effect on wheat or rye. 

2d. That it is uniformly beneficial to Indian corn, un- 
less it be in very rich or very wet soils. 

3d. That it is beneficial to flax on dry poor sandy 
land. 

4th. That it is peculiarly adapted to the growth of clo- 
ver in all dry soils, or even in wet soils, in a dry 
season. 

5th. That limestone pulverized has similar effects with 
gypsum ; whether it is better adopted to wet soils, I can- 
not yet determine. 

6th. Another fact seems to be very well established, 
though I can say nothing of it from my own experience, 
to wit, that its effects as a manure are hardly perceivable 
in the vicinity of the sea. 

I know not whether these facts will be deemed suffi- 
cient to serve as the basis of a theory on the nature of 
this manure ; but as this subject appears involved in dif- 
ficulties, which no one has yet attempted to remove, I 
conceive that the man who in doubtful cases hazards 
even a defective theory, helps to enlighten a subject, by 
provoking others to combat his opinion. The first step 
in determining how calcareous or gypseous earths operate 
as manures, is to acquire a knowledge of their consti- 
tuent parts ; and for that purpose I could have wished 
for a more accurate analysis of them than my imperfect 
knowledge of chymistr)^ has permitted me to make. I 
mixed a quart of pulverized gypsum with an equal quan- 
tity of wood ashes, and leached it with boiling water ; 
as it evaporated, it deposited a salt of a dirty brown 
colour, the crystals imperfectly formed. It was satura- 
ted with a solution of potashes, and, when cold, shot 
into regular crystals, which were sharp at the point, 
and broad at the base, not unlike to the blade of a small 
sword. Though this is not the form of vitriolated tartar 
(which is the salt produced from the vitrlolick acid and 
a vegetable alkali) the difference may have arisen from 



CAtCAREOUS AND GYPSEOUS EARTH. 19/ 

a metallick gas, which might have been detached from 
the glazing of the vessel in which it was boiled. This 
I the rather imagine, as I afterwards obtained vitriola- 
ted tartar by suffering the liquor to evaporate slowly in 
the open air, to which it was exposed for three weeks. 
Pulverized limestone, treated in the same way, gave a 
neutral salt, consisting of a great number of long thin 
needles, equally thick at their extremity. As this is the 
salt produced by combining fixed air with the vegetable 
alkali, it proves that the essential salt of limestone is 
fixed air^ which shows a difference between that and 
gypsum^ that may in certain circumstances be of conse- 
quence, particularly in soils that abound with a vitriolick 
acid, as many boggy soils do ; in which case the lime- 
stone should be preferred, since the elective attraction 
between fixed air and calcareous earth is weaker than 
that which exists between this and the vitriolick acid ; 
the first will therefore be dislodged, and the superabun- 
dant acid of the soil be absorbed by the calcareous earth. 

It is evident, then, that gypseous earths contain an 
acid, capable, when united with an alkali, of forming a 
neutral salt, in which water is a principal ingredient. 
This earth also contains phlogiston, or a principle of in- 
flammability ; as I infer, 1st, from limestone being 
us#d as a flux for substances which cannot otherwise be 
reduced by fire, as pure clay, &c. &c. 2d, from its having 
once formed part of an organized animal ; 3d, from some 
experiments of Dr. Priestly, in which he expressly de- 
clares that he got a considerable quantity of inflammable 
air from chalk, by the application of heat ; 4th, from the 
following experiment, which, being new to me, surprised 
me much. I put a few spoonfuls of chalk into a glass 
bottle, to which I poured strong white wine vinegar, and 
corking the bottle (after the first ebullition was over) at 
the end of a fortnight, I found the vinegar from a trans- 
parent, converted into a dirty black liquor. This change 
of colour I can only account for by supposing that the 
phlogiston, contained in the chalk, was set loose by its 
decomposition, and imbibed by the vinegar. 

Thus, then, we find in a calcareous earth, most of the 
elements that go into the composition of vegetables, to wit, 
earth, air, fire, water ; and an acid, capable, by its com- 
bination with alkalies, of forming a salt which shall dis- 
solve in water, and fit all these substances for entering the 
absorbent vessels of plants. 



198 CALCAREOUS AND GYPSEOUS EARTH. 

[Watson's Ei: 257.] Vegetables, on distillation, yield 
earth, an acid liquor, fixed and inflammable air, an oil 
and an alkali. In some vegetables the acid and alkali 
are actually found united, as in tobacco, sun-flowers, &c. 
and although chymists doubt whether the alkali is not 
produced from the acid in the act of combustion, yet I 
think this question is decided by the analysis of tartar, 
which the vinous juice of most plants yield, and which 
is found to consist of an acid and an alkali. MargrafF 
obtained pure nitre from it by saturating it with nitrous 
acid. 

From this analysis of limestone, which only differs 
from gijpsum in the acid with which it is combined, we 
might be led to conclude that it aided vegetation, by 
being converted into the food of plants. But how is it 
possible to conceive that six bushels of this manure, 
which does not weigh five hundred pounds, should be 
converted into twenty thousand weight of grass, which 
it will produce in two years on the poorest soil ? Why 
will it not have the same effect in the vicinity of the sea, 
or on w^et grounds ? And whence do the plants derive 
their oil and alkalies, since neither are found in this 
manure I 

It has been supposed, that though gypsum in such 
small quantities may not serve as food, it may still olpe- 
rate as the physick of plants, and strengthen their power 
of digestion. This supposition is liable in my mind to 
strong objections. 1st. I can hardly conceive that plants 
(vrhose lives it Vv'ould seem must be very regular) should 
have such weakly constitutions as to require physick 
from their infancy. 2d. If we judge from the analogy 
between animals and vegetables, we should suppose that 
a stimulus constantly applied would lose its effects, and 
ultimately relax and weaken the patient. 3d. If plants 
were thus effected by gypsum^ its advantages should be 
fcontrary to the fact) comparatively greater in rich than 
in poor soils. To increase the appetite where there is 
nothing to eat, would be with Shakspeare's Grumio, to 
furnish the mustard without the beef. 4th. As plants 
in wet soils are probablv most subject to crudities and 
indigestion, it is supposable that they would be most 
benefited by stimulants, and yet they receive but little 
benefit from, gypsum. 

By these objections (which perhaps appear stronger 
to me than they otherwise would from the support they 
afford to mv system) I am induced to reject each of these 



CALCAREOUS AND GYPSEOUS EARTH, 199 

theories, in order to make room for the following, 
which supposes that calcareous and gypseous earths lur- 
nish food to plants, without being consumed by the sup- 
ply they afford, that they are the stewards, and not the 
physicians of the vegetable family. 

I have observed that two of the ingredients that enter 
into the composition of plants, to wit, the alkali and oil, 
were not usually found in calcareous earths, the fresh 
shells of fish, and a few others excepted, from which a 
portion of oil and a volatile alkali may be extracted. I 
presume, however, that an ample supply of these is ne- 
cessary to the vigorous health of plants ; and that gypse- 
ous earths afford them the following process. 

The affinity or attraction between alkalies and the acid 
of gypsum^ is stronger than that which exists between 
the stone and its own acid. That is to sav, the acid will 
leave the stone or earth to unite with the alkali, as ap- 
peared by the experiments I have mentioned, by which 
neutral salts were obtained by leaching pulverized calca- 
reous stones with the lies of ashes. 

When therefore an alkali comes in contact with pul- 
verized gypsum^ it will attract the acid, and combining 
with it and water, form a neutral salt, while the calcare- 
ous earth, deprived of its acid, becomes caustick. Let 
us then suppose gypsum pulverized and spread thinly 
over the earth, it is evident that in this case it exposes a 
large surface to the action of the air; if this contains a 
volatile or vegetable alkali, which I shall by and by show 
that it does, this alkali will seize upon the acid of the 
stone, and form a neutral salt. Salts I believe cannot 
crystallize but by the addition of water, which in their 
combination loses its fluidity and becomes a solid body ; 
the fluidity of water depends upon its heat ; it must 
therefore before it becomes solid, part with its heat, 
probably in the form of inilanimable air. As all plants 
possess this, they must have some means of seizing 
upon it when brought within their reach. Thev will 
therefore either absorb it by their leaves, or it will at- 
tach itself to the water that it finds in the air or on the 
earth, and thus be imbibed by the plant. Chymists 
suppose that this air which becomes fixed in plants, 
causes the production of oils, though by what combina- 
tion they are not yet satisfied. {Fourcroifs Chymistry, 
S5^ second edition.) 

This then is one mode in which calcareous earth may 
supply the oils and inflammable principle found in vege- 



200 CALCAREOUS AND GYPSEOUS EARTH. 

tables ; since plants imbibe inflammable air and emit it 
pure, retaining the phlogiston or inflammable part, which 
is known to be a principal ingredient in them j the acid 
and alkali will also be furnished, when the moisture of 
the air, dews or rain dissolve the neutral salts they have 
formed, and by rendering them liquid dispose them to 
enter the absorbent vessels of plants. In this solution, 
the water which had lost its heat where it cr^^stalized, 
will again resume it with great rapidity from the air in 
contact with it. As the repulsive power or elasticity of 
the air depends like that of all other fluids upon heat, it 
is not unreasonable to suppose that the sudden assump- 
tion of heat from the inflammable air which composes a 
great proportion of the atmospherick air, will decom- 
pound it, and compel it to deposit its water, earth, oils 
and whatever other substances is found floating in it. If 
inflammable air is contained in a receiver, and an elec- 
trick spark passed through it, it may be made to deposit 
a considerable quantity of water, which is always com- 
bined with it. In this way then oils and even earth may 
be supplied, for it is certain that the water contained in 
the atmosphere possesses a portion of earth, and perhaps 
no other earth but this is sufficiently attenuated to enter 
the absorbent vessels of plants. Thus a gallon of rain 
water distilled, yields about sixty grains of calcareous 
earth, which accounts for the increase of certain plants 
without either earth or water, and which are still found 
to contain both. Should it be denied that the attraction 
of the heat from the atmosphere is capable of decom- 
pounding it, it will nevertheless be admitted that there 
are an infinite variety of vapours which are exalted by 
the summer's sun, which owe their levity to heat only, 
and not being permanently elastick, must fall when the 
heat is attracted from them. Thence the fertility occa- 
sioned by dews impregnated as they always are with 
heterogeneous substances ; such of those vapours there- 
fore as float near the earth's surface (and those will be 
most fertile) will suddenly be condensed by any extraor- 
dinary degree of cold, which the solution of the salt I 
have mentioned may occasion. But the eff"ect of the 
xialcartous eartli does not stop here ; it is not satisfied 
with a single operation, but like a faithful steward still 
exerts itself for the support of the vegetable family com- 
mitted to its care. This earth, when deprived of its 
acid is rendered caustick, and will therefore greedily 
imbibe the acid from the air, after which it will be 



CALCAREOUS AND GYPSEOUS EARTH. 201 

brought back to its original state, and will form new 
combinations with alkaline vapour, and the same process 
will be continually repeated, till it is itself dissolved in 
water, born away by the air, or absorbed by plants, to 
all which casualties it is subjected. That acids exist in 
the air is proved, 1st, From their being capable not only 
of evaporation, but of being rendered permanently elas- 
tick, and even in this state capable of combining with 
alkalies, which can in like manner be rendered perma- 
nently elastick. From their union, a white cloud is pro- 
duced, which contains a neutral salt. 2d, If quick lime 
is kept dry, and exposed a long time to the air, it will 
become effete, and lose its causticity by its reunion with 
an acid. 3d, If a cloth moistened by a strong solution 
of pot ashes is exposed to the air, it will be covered with 
saline chrystals of vitriolated tartar. 4th, If the earth 
from which salt-petre has been made is exposed to the 
air, it will recover the nitrous acid it had lost. In some 
parts of the East-Indies saltpetre is made by setting fire 
to a long grass which grows on the declivities of hills ; 
that ashes serve as the alkaline base of nitre (which is a 
neutral salt composed of an acid and an alkali) the acid 
of which floats in the air and combines itself with the 
alkali, forming the salt which is washed down by the 
rains and received in reservoirs at the foot of the hills, 
where the water is evaporated and the salt crystallized. 

This part of the theory will therefore hardly admit of 
a doubt. The existence of an alkali in the air I think is 
proved from the extreme volatillity of some alkalies ; from 
the possibility by heat alone of rendering them perma- 
nently elastick ; from their being continually exhaled 
from burning and putrifying substances. Dr. Black im«. 
putes the rust of metals to the action of an alkali existing 
in the air, and says alkaline salts are often collected 
from the corks of bottles containing acids- — the atmos- 
phere itself is a compound, which differs so essentially 
from pure vital air, as to contain only twenty- eight parts 
in a hundred of it ; the rest is fixed and inflammable air, 
fire, earth, water, and an infinite variety of other sub" 
stances, besides vapours that are not permanently elas- 
tick. The purest earths, the hardest metals, may be 
converted into air, and float in the atmosphere, which 
may itself be changed into water, and water into solid 
earth. 

What strikes me as a further evidence of the existence 
of an alkali in the air, is, that such parts of flint or lime-^ 

Dd 



202 CALCAREOUS AND GYPSEOUS EARTH. 

Stone, as are exposed to the action of the air and water, 
are always white and soft; flint I believe is not soluble 
in acids, but will dissolve in alkalies ; nor can the de- 
composition of limestone, be attributed to the action of 
acids, since, as this is ver\' gradually affected, it is to 
be presumed, that if the acid in the air was strong enough 
to expel the fixed air, it would unite with the calcareous 
earth, and still form a salt with an earthy basis of a dif- 
ferent species. ]May we not then conjecture, that this 
change in the limestone is caused by a combination of 
the kind I have mentioned ; and the rather, as we find 
^vhen it is exposed only to the action of the air, and not 
washed by water, that it forms saline efflorescences, 
which speak the union of alkaline acid, and earthy sub- 
stances. Dr. Watson tells us, that from the mortar of 
an old barn that was covered with these efflorescences, 
he extracted perfect crystals of pure nitre, without the 
application of any alkali ; and yet we know, that an al- 
kali and an acid are essential in the composition of nitre. 
He does not attempt to account for this. I should how- 
ever presume, that it could only happen by the lime in 
the mortar, having recovered a nitrous acid from the air, 
instead of the fixed air it had lost, and that the putrid 
exhalations from the vegetables contained in the barn 
had furnished the alkali, and that from the combination 
of these, with the moisture of the air, resulted those 
efflorescences that formed the nitre. Dr. Black asserts, 
that the efflorescences found in damp caverns or cellars in 
England, contain a great proportion oi fossil alkali — this 
alkali is not found in Europe, unless combined with sea 
salt, of which it makes the basis ; and yet these efflo- 
rescences are derived from the moisture of the air : does 
not this argue the existence of an alkaline salt in the at- 
mosphere r 

It may be objected, that if alkalies and acids exist in 
the atmosphere, they would by their union form neutral 
salts in the clouds. Though I by no means consider this 
as a necessary consequence, since the repulsive power of 
the particles of air, may keep the alkalies and acids they 
contain without the sphere of each other's attraction, yet 
I am inclmed to believe, that this combination does ac- 
tually take place. To the heat generated by this combi- 
nation while the salts are forming, I attribute the varia- 
tions that ai'e felt in the degrees of heat that prevailed at 
different times, in the stillest weather, when summer 
heat should be uniform ; to the solution of these salts, 



CALCAREOUS AND GYPSEOUS EARTH. 203 

that cold which generates frost and hail in the warmest 
seasons. 

There are places among the mountains, and in great 
forests, where frosts prevail every month in the year. 
There are others, which by clearing are freed from this 
calamitv, which is known so often to distress the first 
settlers of a new district* If frosts were occasioned 
merelv by the influence of cold winds, the places most 
exposed to these would be subject to them, and woods 
and vallies would afford a shelter against them, as in- 
deed they often do against frosts which are derived from 
this source The reason of the prevalence of frost in 
woods and sheltered vallies, when the general tempera- 
ture of the air elsewhere is warm, I should take to be 
the greater exhalations of those substances that form 
salts, and the solution of them by the vapours that arise 
from these moist and sheltered situations. Hail too 
cannot be ascribed to any other cause ; if it owed its ori- 
gin to cold only, it would be more prevalent in winter 
than in summer; it would, like showers ofrain^ extend 
over large tracts of country ; and it would fall from 
much greater heights than it generally does. But hail, 
like frost, is often confined to a very narrow region, pre- 
vails in the warmest weather, and in long clese vallies 
at a distance from the sea, more than in the open country 
or near the ocean. Thus France and Italy are extremely 
incommoded by hail storms ; in England they are very 
rare. All these phenomena correspond with the theory 
laid down : in summer are the greatest exhalations of 
volatile alkalies. These are more likely to arise, and form 
their union with the aerial acids in vallies where the air is 
most compressed ; in these situations they frequently meet 
with those moist clouds that dissolve them suddenly, 
and afford the v/ater that is by the solution of the salts 
converted into hail. The salt composed of an acid and 
a volatile alkali, a sal-ammoniack, dissolves with great 
rapidity when it comes in contact with water, and gene- 
rates a great degree of cold ; while common salt dis- 
solves much slower, and does not generate so much cold 
by eighteen degrees in its solution ; for which, (among 
other reasons) hail prevails less near the sea than at a 
distance from it. That such salts are formed in the air 
is further proved from the experiments of MargrafT 



Note— The rust of iron will yield a volatile alkali—rust is acquired 
by exposure to the air. [Black,] 



'5^04 CALCAREOUS AND GYPSEOUS EARTH. 

and Doctor Ratty, who both obtained a bitter salt from 
snow and rain water in distillation, but much less from 
snow than from rain water. Doctor Black admits that 
both nitre and common salt are formed in the air. A 
farmer needs no better proof of the existence of the lat- 
ter in the atmosphere on the south side of the Highlands, 
than the indifference which cattle show there for salt, 
and the eagerness with which they seek it at a greater 
distance from the sea. I shall now endeavour to recon- 
cile certain phenomena in the operation oi gypsum to this 
theory. 

1st. It benefits dr}- more than wet soils. 

Because calcareous and gypseous earths are at all 
times soluble in the water. In wet soils they will be dis- 
solved and wash away i besides, the moisture which in- 
velopes the particles o{ gypsu?n, protects it from the ac- 
tion of the air, and prevents the combinations on which 
this theory is founded. As limestone is less soluble in 
water than gypsum^ perhaps if applied in large quanti- 
ties, it may be more beneficial to moist land. 

2d. It is proportionally more advantageous to poor 
than to rich soils, 

Ist. Because the putrid vegetables which compose a 
rich mould afford a sufficient quantity of alkalies, oils 
and acids, but principall}^ because after the gypsum has 
parted with its acid by combining with the alkali, as be- 
fore supposed, its earth being thereby rendered caustick, 
combines with oils with which such soils abound, and is 
thus sheltered from any further operation of the air 
upon it. Perhaps too the vitriolick acid instead of uni- 
ting with an alkali, is attracted by the oils it finds in the 
earth j these it renders viscous, and by its combination 
forms sulphur, and thus is rather hurtful than service- 
able — -on such soils pulverized limestone should be pre- 
ferred. 

5d. It is less beneficial near the sea than at a distance 
from it, 

1st. Because the winds that blow from the sea which 
are the prevalent summer winds, and probably less im- 
pregnated with those alkaline substances vrhich putrid 
animals and vegetables afford, than those which blow 
over a large tract of land. 

2d. Because it appears from experiments made in Ire« 
land, that sea salt is contained there both in rain and 
snow water. Sea salt is composed of the marine acid, 
?snd a fossil alkali, to which latter the vitriolick acid 



aALCAREOUS AND GYPSEOUS EARTH* 20p 

found in gypsum has a greater affinity than the marine 
acid ; it will therefore decompound the salt and unite 
with the fossil alkali perhaps, (I speak with deference, 
not knowing the fact) perhaps, I say, the fossil alkali 
may be unfriendly to vegetation, or not of a nature to be 
absorbed by the plant. In this case on the solution of 
the salt formed with it and the vitriolick acid, the latter 
would be absorbed singly and the fossil alkali being left, 
would form new combinations with the marine acid, 
which is found in the atmosphere near the sea, and be 
again converted into common salt, which is known to 
have little or no effect as a manure. That the vitriolick 
acid would be absorbed, I infer from the presence of vi- 
triolated tartar in pearl ashes, which shows that the acid 
must have existed in the plants from which it was made, 
and from the following fact which I have seen in some 
writer on husbandry : — A gentleman whose court yard 
was overgrown with weeds, was advised to sprinkle 
them with vitriolick acid, but to his great surprise he 
found that instead of killing them they grew with addi- 
tional vigour. That fossil alkali is unfriendly to vegeta- 
tion, I infer from its not being found in any plant, some 
marine plants excepted. Perhaps in the vicinity of the 
sea, if pulverized limestone could be afforded sufficiently 
cheap, and was used in large quantities, it might be 
found beneficial, because its acid or fixed air is not suffi- 
ciently powerful to detach the marine acid from its fossil 
alkaline base. This idea seems to be justified by the ge- 
neral use of chalk in England, and limestone gravel in 
Ireland, and the beneficial effects that are known to arise 
from the use of sea shells applied in large quantities on 
Long-Island and elsewhere. 

There is a remarkable fact which may perhaps be ad- 
duced to strengthen my theory, and to show that either 
the air or earth is less impregnated with alkalies near the 
sea, than at a distance from it. The Long Island farm- 
ers send annually a number of boats to collect the ashes 
from the potash works along the banks of the Hudson, 
and at the distance of two or three miles from it. These 
they purchase at 2d. per bushel ; pay the expense of a 
cartage to the river ; of a water transportation of 120 or 
130 miles, and then cart it again two or three miles to 
their farms, while a North river farmer, if the ashes 
were given him, would not be at the expense of carting 
them three miles. This has by hasty observers been 



•206 ON CALCAREOUS AND GYPSEOUS EARTHS. 

attributed to ignorance, or indolence in the latter. The 
reproach is unmerited ; the people on the north side of 
the Highlands are not less enterprising or intelligent 
than those on the south ; they are the same people. The 
fact is, that lands near the sea derive much greater ad- 
vantage from alkaline manures, than those at a distance ; 
ashes will contribute to fertility every where, but much 
more so (if I can rely upon the information of intelligent 
farmers on Long Island, compared with my own obser- 
vations) in the vicinity of the sea, than at a distance. I 
have myself never been able to procure half the grass 
from an acre of land manured with 100 bushels of un- 
drawn ashes, which cost, exclusively of the expense of 
putting it on 51, that six bushels oi gypsum has given me, 
from the same field j it is also on my farm the least per- 
manent of all manures^; the effect of it not being visible 
after the second year.*^ 

I will intrude upon your patience one moment longer, 
while I mention another fact which appears to me to sup- 
port my theory. 

It is generally asserted that gypsum renders the earth 
black. It is well known to thi^se who have been atten- 
tive to its effects, that bare spots in a field that has been 
manured with it, will discover a great number of small 
black specks, particularly on sandy grounds that have 
been wet. It is also known that beds of oyster shells, 
and the thin stratum of earth that covers limestone rocks, 
is always black, like the richest vegetable mould. Now, 
as these substances are white when reduced to powder, 
from whence can they derive the power of rendering the 
earth in contact with them black ? Unless in their decom- 
position they attract oils from the air, or communicate 
the phlogiston they contain to the moist earth, as the 
chalk appeared to do to the vinegar in the instance I have 
mentioned. We may add to this, that ground which 
lies over a stratum of limestone rock is less subject to 
frost, and thaws earlier than any other soil. Both oils 
and salt have a considerable power in resisting frost. 

Should the system I have endeavoured to establish be 
true, it will follow that calcareous earths are very perma- 
nent manures in proportion to the quantity employed. 
For, as I have before observed, if this is small it must be 



* Note — The chancellor's seat at Clermont, where his experiments 
were made, is ane himdred and tvrenty miles from the sea coast. 



ON CALCAREOUS AND GYPSEOUS EARTHS. 2Q7 

frequently renewed, because this earth is soluble in 
water, and will be carried off by it, or imbibed by the 
plants themselves 

As far as experiment has gone, this opinion of its du- 
ration is fully justified. Oyster shells, craig, marie, last 
for ages in full vigour j these are all different modifica- 
tions of this earth. 

Whether my ideas on this subject are just or not, I 
confess I take a pleasure in thinking them so. I class 
in my own mind this effect of calcareous earths with the 
provision which nature in the creation of coal mines has 
made for after ages. I consider it as a proof of the du- 
ration of this globe for many thousand years to come. 
It is evident that the vegetable tribes flourished long 
before men were sufficiently numerous to make war 
upon them ; left to themselves for centuries, they grew^ 
flourished, faded, and died, and by their death and pu- 
trefaction, covered the earth with a rich mould, from 
which men and other animals have hitherto drawn their 
support. This, however, must gradually diminish ; ve- 
getable substances are not suffered as formerly to cover 
every part of the earth ; to die and putrify on the spot on 
which they grew ; animals take more from it than they 
return ; every rain draws down a part of it to the hidden 
caverns of the earth ; every stream and rivulet hurries it 
into the sea ; every fire preys upon it ; every breeze is 
impregnated with its spoils. Let us not, however, 
tremble for the fate of posterity ; the fossils which the 
sea affords, the vast quarries of marble, chalk, gypsum, 
marie, which all derive their origin from the same 
source, not only restore the loss which the water oc- 
casions, but, agreeably to this system, compel the air 
to deposit the spoils of the vegetable world, and the 
fires which have consumed the old, to animate new plants. 

REMARKS BY T. G. F. 

The foregoing ingenious theory of the honourable 
chancellor is coroborated by those chymists and writers 
on agriculture v/hose works I have been able to consult. 
It may, perhaps, be said of the phenomena of vegetation, 
as was remarked by a modern writer (I think Park in his 
work entitled the chymical catechism) of combus- 
tion, that it is merely " a play of affinities J"* And those 
substances which will best contribute to support and sti- 



208 ON CALCAREOUS AND GYPSEOUS EARTHS. 

mulate this action of affinities, will be found of the great- 
est utility as manures. 

Calcareous earth (lime) and its sulphates (gypsum, 
selenite, or plaster stone) have a great affinity to watery 
as well as to the acids and alkalies which are held in so- 
lution both by water and by atmospherick air. Gypsum, 
pulverized will acquire weight, and become moist by 
simple exposure to atmospherick air, under cover in the 
driest season. " Lime seizes water with great avidity ; 
at the same time that it falls into powder, increases in 
bulk and emits heat." Nicholson's Chaptal, The im- 
portance of water as a nutritive principle to plants is 
well known. I will, however, indulge in a further quo- 
tation from the work cited above. 

" Every one knows that a plant cannot vegetate without 
the assistance of water : but it is not so generally known 
that this is the only aliment which the root draws from the 
earth, and that a plant can live and propagate itself, 
without any other assistance than the contact of water 
and air. It appears tome nevertheless, that the follow- 
ing experiments remove every doubt on this subject: 
Van Helmont planted a willow, weighing fifty pounds, 
in a certain quantity of earth, covered with sheet lead : 
he watered it for five years with distilled water ; and at 
the end of that time the tree weighed one hundred and 
sixtv-nine pounds three ounces, and the earth in which 
it had vegetated was found to have suffered a loss of no 
more than three ounces. Boyle repeated the same ex- 
periment upon a plant, which, at the end of two years, 
weighed fourteen pounds more, without the earth in 
which it had vegetated, having lost any perceptible por- 
tion of its weight. 

*' Messrs. Duhamel and Bonnctt supported plants with 
moss, and fed them with mere water: they observed 
that the vegetation was of the most vigorous kind ; and 
the naturalist of Geneva observes, that the flowers were 
more odoriferous and the fruit of a higher flavour. Care 
was taken to change the supports before they could suf- 
fer any material alteration. Mr. Tillet has likewise 
raised plants, more especially of the gramineous kind, in 
a similar manner ; with this difference only that his sup- 
ports were pounded glass, or quartz in powder. Hales 
has observed that a plant which weighed three pounds, 
gained three ounces after a heavy dew. Do we not 
every day observe hyacinths and other bulbous plants, as 



ON CALCAREOVS AND GYPSEOtT^ EARTHS. 20^ 

well as gramineous plants raised in saucers, in bottles 
containing mere water. *^ 

*•" All plants do not demand the same quantity of wa- 
ter J and nature has varied the organs of the several 
individuals conformably to the necessity of their being 
supplied with this food. Plants which transpire little, 
such as the mosses and the lichens, have no need of a 
considerable quantity of this fluid ; and accordingly they 
are fixed upon dry rocks, and have scarcely any roots ; 
but plants whicli require a larger quantity have roots, 
which extend to a consideVable distance, and absorb hu- 
midity, throughout the whole surface." 

Calcareous earth, however, has other, and powerful 
affinities beside that which induces it to seize on water. 
Lime and its sulphate, gypsum, combine with all acids, 
particularly the nitrick and muriatick.f I'he nitrick 
acid is composed of oxygen and nitrogen ; the latter 
serving for lood, and the former for stimulus for plants. 
Lime, then, or its sulphate, g\ psum, by its attraction for 
the nitrick acid, and the substances of which it is com- 
pounded, to wit, nitrogen and oxygen, furnishes both 
food and stimulus to vegetables. But it has likewise an 
attraction for the muriatick acid. This last is obtained 
from sea salt, is of a corrosive nature and when combi- 
ned with oxygen is very poisonous to animals and vege- 
tables. J Its deleterious effects may be traced on vege- 
tables, according to Kirwan and others, for several miles 
from the sea coast, particularly after a violent storm, 
which has covered them with spray and vapour from the 
sea. The atmosphere, near the sea shore, always holds 
in solution a portion of the muriatiok acid, which, at- 
tracted by g}^psum, furnishes vegetables with poison 
instead of food. 



* If proper care was taken to renew this water, the plants would 
probably grow with more iuxuriauce. 

•j- Parkinson. 

:|: The death of the ingenious and indefatigable Pelletier was occa- 
sioned by his attempting to respire oxygenized muriatick gas. A con- 
sumption was the consequence, which, in a short time, proved fatal. 
Dr. Thomson, Vol. II. p. 82. 

E C 



210 ^N MAKING BREAD FROM RICE; 

ON THE MEANS 

OF MAILING BREAD FROM RICE ALONE. 
•FROM THE JOURNAL DES SCIENCES, DES LETTRES, ET DES ARTS- 

THE art of making bread from rice, though much 
spoken of, seems to be very little knr-wn. In Chomel's 
dictionary it is said that bread may be made of rice, but 
there is no account of the means by which it is to be done. 
The book called La Maison Rustique goes rather further ; 
for, it informs us that this kind of bread is made by mix- 
ing together the flour of rye and that of rice. The first 
of these books, therefore, may be considered as saying 
nothing, since it is absolutely impossible to make bread 
of the flour of rice (which is harsh and dry, like sand or 
ashes) by treating it in the manner in which wheat flour 
is treated. The manner of using rice flour described in 
the second book, is but an uncertain remedy in case of 
want; for, if we have no rye, we cannot^ according to 
that book, make use of rice flour for making bread, be* 
cause an equal quantity of rye flour is said to be neces- 
sary for that purpose ,* and consequently, in countries 
where no rye is grown, it would be impossible to make 
bread of rice> however great the want of bread might be. 

I therefore think it my duty to supply that information 
which is wanting in the two books above mentioned, by 
describing a method by which excellent bread may be 
made from rice alone, which method 1 learned from the 
nat.ves of Americai 

The first thing to be done to the rice Is, to reduce it 
into flour : this may be done by grinding it in a mill, or, 
if we have not a mill, it may be done in the following 
manner. Let a certain quantity of water be heated in a 
saucepan or cauldron; when the water is near boiling, 
let the rice we mean to reduce into flour be thrown into 
it: the vessel is then to be taken off the fire, and the rice 
left to soak till the next morning. It will then be found 
at the bottom of the water, which is to be poured off, 
and the rice put to drain upon a table placed in an incli- 
ned .position. When it is dry, it must be beat to pow- 
der, and passed through the finest sieve that can be 
procured. 

When we have brought the rice into flour, we must 
take as much of it as may be thought necessary, and put 



ON MAKING BREAD FROM RICE. 211^ 

it into the kneading trough in which bread is generally 
made. At the same time we must heat some water in a 
saucepan or other vessel, and, having thrown into it some 
handfuls of rice, we must let them boil together for 
some time : the quantity of rice must be such as to ren- 
der the water very thick and glutinous. When this glu- 
tinous matter is a little cooled, it must be poured upon 
the rice flour, and the whole must be well kneaded toge- 
ther, adding thereto a little salt, and a proper quantity of 
leaven. We are then to cover the dough with warm 
cloths and to let it stand that it may rise. During the 
fermentation, this paste (which, when kneaded, must 
have such a proportion of flour as to render it pretty 
firm) becomes so soft and liquid that it seems impossible 
it should be formed into bread : it is now to be treated 
as follows. 

While the dough is rising, the oven must be heated ; 
and, when it is of a proper degree of heat, we must take 
a stew pan, of tin or copper tinned, to which is fixed a 
handle of sufficient length to reach to the end of the oven. 
A little water must be put into this stew-pan, which 
must then be filled with the fermented paste, and covered 
with cabbage or any other large leaves, or with a sheet of 
paper. When this is done, the stew-pan is to be put 
into the oven, and pushed forward to the part where it 
is intended the bread shall be baked ; it must then be 
quickly turned upside down. The heat of the oven acts 
upon the paste in such a way as to prevent its spreading, 
and keeps it in the form the stew-pan has given it. 

In this manner pure rice bread may be made ; it comes 
out of the oven of a fine yellow colour, like pastry which 
has yolk of eggs over it. It is as agreeable to the taste 
as to the sight ; and may be made use of, like wheat 
bread, to put into broth, &c. I must, however, observe 
that it loses its goodness very much as it becomes stale. 

It may be here remarked, that the manner in which 
Indian corn is used in France, for making bread, can 
only produce (and does in fact produce) very bad dough, 
and of course very bad bread. To employ it advanta- 
geously, it should be treated like rice, and it may then 
be used, not only for making bread, but also for pastry. 



'iil':i <hii THE EFFECTS Oi MORDANTS 



OBSERVATIONS 

ON THE EFFECTS OF MORDANTS IN DYING COTTON RED. BT 

J. A. CHAPTAL. 

TROM THE ANNALES DE CMEMIE. 

IN dying cotton a ftne red colour, by means of 
madder, it is stiU the custom, as in certain medical pre- 
parations, to adhere strictlv to the most whimsical and 
extraordinary prescriptions, lest any change in the pro- 
cess should produce an alteration in the result. 

A month's work is hardly suflicient to complete all the 
operations supposed indispensable for obtaining the fine 
red colour, called Adrianople or Turkey red. In the 
process for which are successively employed the follow- 
ing ingredients, viz. barilla, oil, galls, sumach, alum, 
blood, the gastrick juice, madder, soap, solution of tin 
in aqua regia^ and other substances. 

The true means of simplifying this process is not by 
working at random, and trying without rules and prin- 
ciples, methods different from those at present made use 
of. That mode of proceeding leads very rarely, and 
always slowly, to successful results. I know but one 
way of making any progress in the arts, namely, by 
reducing all the operations to simple principles ; by this 
means we obtain fixed points, from which we may take 
our departure, and to which we may refer the results 
of our labours. Chymistry is now in a sufficient ad- 
vanced state to furnish these first bases ; it is only ne- 
cessary to establish them, and they will become, in the 
hands of the workman, what formulse are in the head 
of the mathematician. I shall give one example of this^ 
by submitting to chymical principles, the action of the 
three principal mordants employed in dying cotton red, 
viz. oils, galls, and alum. 

It is well known that cotton will not take a perma- 
nent red dye from madder, except it has first been 
properly impregnated with oil. The red given to cot- 
ton by printing is far from possessing the same degree 
of fixity since it cannot support the operation of bright- 
ening by means of barilla. 

This preliminary preparation is given to cotton, by 
forming (without heat) a soapy liquor, by the combina- 
tion of oil with a weak solution of barilla. 



IN DYING COTTON RED. 213 

This alkaline lixivium is of no use but to dilute and 
divide the oil, so as to give the workman the power of 
applx'ing it, with ease, to every part of the cotton, in an 
equal manner. 

I found that potash produced the same effect as ba- 
rilla J a circumstance vvhith is, in my opinion, deserving 
of somC attention, because, in those parts where barilla 
is scarce and dear, its place may be supplied by potash. 

It follows, from this principle, that all kinds of ba- 
rilla, or of oil, cannot be employed indifferently. 

In order that the barilla should be fit for the purpose, 
it is necessary that it should be in a caustick state, and 
that it should contain but a small quantity of sea salt. 

It must not be rendered caustick by quick lime, be- 
cause it then gives the colour a brown hue; its caus- 
ticity must therefore be produced by calcination. 

Barilla which is rendered mild b}^ fixed air, and that 
which has much sea-salt mixed with it, unite very im- 
perfectly with oil ; consequently, old barilla in an efflo- 
rescent state, and the impure barilla of our climate, 
cannot be used in the die here treated of. 

The choice of the oil is as essential as that of the 
barilla. 

In order that an oil should be good for this pur- 
pose, it must be capable of uniting very perfectly with 
the solution of barilla, and of continuing permanently 
in a state of complete combination. 

The oil most fit for the purposes of dying, is not fine 
oil ; on the contrary, it is that which contains a large 
portion of extractive principle. 

The former (fme oil) does not preserve its state of 
combination with the barilla; it also requires a stronger 
lie ; a circumstance which prevents the dier from gra- 
duating properly his subsequent operations. 

1 he other kind of oil makes a combination which 
is thicker and more durable ; it also requires but a 
weak lie, of one or tv.o degrees of strength. 

The necessity of producing a very intimate and per- 
fect combination of the oil with the barilla, will be 
readily perceived, by reflecting, that the lie of barilla 
(as was before mentioned) is only made use of for the 
purpose of dividing and diluting the oil, so that it may 
be applied equally to all parts of the cotton. From this 
principle it follows, that if the oil is not well mixed, 
the cottons which are dinped in this mordant, will take 



214 ON THE EFFECTS OF MORDANTS 

the oil unequally, and, consequently, the colour given 
to them by dying will not have a uniform appearance. 

Hence it is, that the workman considers the secret 
of producing a uniform and rich colour, to consist 
merely in chusing such oil, and such barilla, as will 
answer his purpose. 

It follows, also, from these principles, that there 
should be an excess of oil, and not merely as much a« 
is requisite for the saturation of the barilla ; for, in 
the latter case, some of the oil would quit the cotton, 
when it was washed, and the colour would remain dry. 

When the cotton is properly impregnated with oil, it 
is made to undergo the operation of galling. In this 
operation, galls produce several advantages. First, the 
ncid they contain decomposes the soapy liquor with 
which the cotton is impregnated, and fixes the oil upon 
ft. Secondlv, the animal nature of the galls gives the 
cotton a disposition to receive the colouring principle. 
Thirdly, the astringent principle unites to the oil, and 
forms with it a compound which grows black as it dries, 
which is almost insoluble in water, and which has a 
\^ery strong affinity with the colouring principle of the 
madder. 

This last combination may be obtained, and opportu- 
nity given of investigating its properties, by mixing a 
decoction of galls with a solution of soap. 

From the above principles it follows,^ first, that other 
astringents, in whatever proportion they are employed, 
cannot be used instead of galls. Secondly, that the 
decoction of galls should be made use of as hot as 
possible, in order that the decomposition may be sudden 
and complete. Thirdly, that the galled cotton should 
be dried quickly, to prevent its turning black, which 
would diminish the brightness of the red colour meant 
to be given to it. Fourthly, that dry weather should 
be chosen for the process of galling, because wet wea- 
ther tends to give the astringent principle a black co- 
lour, and also retards the drying. Fifthly, that the 
cotton should be pressed with the greatest care, in order 
that the composition, about to be produced, may take 
place equally at every part of its surface. Sixthly, that 
there should be a fixed proportion observed, m the 
quantity of galls and soap m^de use of. If the galls 
predominate, the colour is apt to be black ; if the soap 
is in excess, that portion of the oil which is not com- 
bined vrith the astringent principle becomes useless^ as 



IN DYING COTTON RED. )215 

it is carried off when the stuff is washed ; the colour is 
more faint. 

The third mordant employed in dying cotton red, is 
alum. This substance has not only the property of 
brightening the red colour produced by madder, but it 
also contributes, by its decomposition, and the fixity of 
its earth, to give solidity to the colour. 

In order to judge of the effects produced by alum, 
in dying cotton red, it is only necessary to mix a de- 
coction of galls with a solution of alum. The mixture 
immediately becomes turbid, and a greyish precipitate 
is formed, which when dried, is insoluble in water, and 
in alkalies. 

Every circumstance that happens in this experiment, 
may be observed in the operation of aluming, for the 
purpose of dying. The cotton, when galled, and dipped 
m a solution of alum, or of acetite of alumine, changes 
its colour, and instantly becomes grey. No precipitate 
appears in the bath, because the piecipitation takes place 
in the substance of the cotton, in which the products of 
tha* operation remain fixed. It must, however, be ob- 
served, that if the solution of alum, into which the 
galled cotton is dipped, is too hot, a certain portion of 
the galls escapes from the cotton, and then the decom- 
position of the alum takes places in the bath itself; this 
necessarily diminishes the proportion of the mordant, 
and thereby renders the colour less rich. 

Here then is a combination of three principles (oil, 
the astringent principle, and the earth of alum) which 
serves as a mordant in dying red with madder. When 
these principles are used separately, they produce neither 
the same fixity, nor the same brilliancy in the colour. 

This mordant is, undoubtedly, the most complicated 
of any known in the art of dying, and it presents to the 
chymist a species of combination very interesting to 
investigate. 

It is from the exactness of this combination, and from 
the skill of the artist in making it, that a beautiful co- 
lour is to be expected. But, although it may be pos- 
sible, by taking experience for our guide, to conduct 
ourselves properly through the labyrinth of these nume- 
rous combinations, it is very difficult to render them 
more simple and perfect. It is only by reasoning upon 
the operations, and calculating the principle and result 
of each of them, that we can be complete masters of 
our processes, can correct the errours of them, and 



M6 ON THE MELTING OF IRON 

can obtain constant results. Without doing so, the 
practice of the most experienced artist offers only a 
discouraging alternation of successes and failures. It 
was my view, in the analysis I have here given of the 
operation oi dying red with madder (the most compli- 
cate of all such operations) to give an example of the 
assistance chymistry can afford to the arts, when it 
enlightens them by its principles. And I am convinced 
that the most ignorant workman will find, in this short 
explanation, the principles of his work, and the rules 
by which he ought to conduct himself. 



\ 
/ 



EXPERIMENTS 



MADE ON A LARGE SCALE ON THE MELTING OF IRON IN A 
REVERBERATORY FURNACE. BY G. A. LAMPADIUS. 

JOURN. DES MINES, NO. 94. VOL. XVI. 

THE reverberatory furnace used in these experi- 
ments consists of three principal parts: 1. the air-tunnel 
and ash-hole ; 2. the fireplace ; 3. the hearth and chim- 
ney. The air was conducted through a vertical tunnel 
several yards in length, with its lower aperture over a 
stream of water. The fuel employed was wood ; the 
bottom of the furnace was an oval cavity capable of con- 
taining three or four hundred weight of metal. The 
flame escaped through a chimney eight ells high. 

In using this furnace a multitude of unoxydated par-* 
tides of carbon were observed in the flame of the closed 
furnace, which communicate to the latter the property 
of reducing or disoxydating metal. 

Experiment I. with the simple fire of the furnace, — 
Grev> fine-grained cast iron being put into the reverbe- 
ratorv furnace, became covered with a scoria consisting 
principally of carburet of iron. This scoria could not 
be removed on account of the metal that adhered to 
it. The metal being brought to ebullition, carburet- 
ted hvdrogene gas was evolved. After five hours 
boiling, during which the melted mass was frequently, 
stirred and the scoria mixed with it, it became white 
and coarser grained, appearing more malleable, but yet 



IN A REVEKBERATORY FURNACEi ^If 

iiDt capable of being forged. In the ordinary refining 
furnace, it was refined sooner than common cast iron, 
The process of refining iron by the reverberatory furnace 
shows that the cast iron was here converted into mal- 
leable by means r)f the oxygene contained in the small 
quantity of atmospherick air, which, jointly with azote 
and carbonick acid gas, covered the fused metal. This 
oxygene combined with the carburet of iron, whereby 
carbonick acid gas and oxyde of iron were formed^ and 
this produced the frothy scoria. This scoria, by rea- 
son of its lightness, r-ose to the surface at the beginning, 
but was destroyed as soon as the air began to act. 

Experiment II. Thejire of the furnace being aided bi^ 
the vapour of water, — By igniting the carburet of iron 
the water was decomposed, and carbonick acid gas, hy« 
drogene gas, and oxyde of iron obtained. This being 
found to be the case when tht experiment was tried on 
a small scale, the principle was applied to the refining of 
iron in the reverberatory furnace. 

Three hundred weight of cast iron were put into the 
reverberatory furnace as before, steam was introduced, 
and the operation proceeded rapidly ; but when, at the 
end of four hours, it was supposed to be finished, the 
iron was found of fine grain, and full of holes. When 
treated afterwards in the same manner as the preceding, 
it was found less capable of being refined than before. 
On assaying a specimen in the state in which it came, 
out of the reverberatory furnace, it was found to con« 
tain more oxygene than other kinds of cast iron. Half 
a potind of grey cast iron treated in a retort with four 
ounces of charcoal, purified of all carbonick acid gas, 
had been found to yield 32^ cubick inches of carbonick 
acid gas. A like quantity of white cast iron gave 165 
cubick inches of the same gas. Four ounces of the cast 
iron just taken from the reverberatory furnace, mixed 
with two ounces of charcoal, gave 96 inches, or 192 
inches to half a pound. Thus the proportions of oxy- 
gene contained in these different kinds of cast iron are : 
In iron superrefined with steam - 192 
Common white cast iron - - - 165 
Grey cast iron -------95 , 



* Probably this is an errour of the press in the original, as it does 
not ag-ree with the proportion specified in th£ next paragraph ; con- 
sequently one of tlie two must be wrong. 

F f 



218 ON THE MELTING OF IRON, &C. 

This superrefined iron is probably formed as fol* 
lows : the steam is decomposed, and destroys its car- 
buret, as atmospherick air does in the ordinary refining; 
at the same time it communicates to the iron so large 
a quantity of oxygene that it was neceesary in the re- 
fining not only to separate the scoria, but likewise to 
disoxydate the metal. This experiment, moreover, 
confirms the property which iron possesses of becoming 
oxydated at different degrees. 

Experiment III. The Ji re of the furnace being aided 
by the action of bellozos,~^-A bellows being adapted to 
the reverberatory furnace, a much greater heat was pro- 
duced than in the two preceding experiments. A very 
fluid scotia was formed, of a dark brown colour and 
vitreous fracture, which could not be removed. Stirring 
the mass produced extraordinary^ heat with a scintillating 
combustion. The operation being ended, the iron was 
found to have lost considerably in weight. Its fracture 
was silvery, compact, and interspersed with a great 
number of spherical cavities, indicating the disengage- 
ment of a gaseous matter during the fusion. This mass 
was too small to be refined. Four ounces yielded 87 
cubick inches of oxygene gas, consequently nine less 
than that which had been treated with steam. Thus 
probably the oxydation was here also too powerful ; and 
as the metal did not become doughy, it must have been 
supersaturated wMth oxygene, without passing through 
the malleable state. The carburet, indeed, must have 
been totally destroyed, whence the silvery colour. 

REMARKS BY T. G. F, 



We observed in a former article^ page 26 that water 
in certain circumstances was a supporter of cumbustion 
and was capable of being converted into fuel ; and the 
above corroborates our former assertion. Dr. Mitchell, 
in a letter to Dr. Priestley, published in the Medical 
Repository, New York, vol. 1. page 504, relative to the 
disputes among chymists concerning phlogiston, remarks 
as follows : 

" Having subjected water heated to the temperature 
of steam in an eolipyle, and directed the steam, issuing 
from it, to the surface of red hot charcoal, the coal 
brightened, and a greater flame was observed near the 



ON RAISING RED CLOVER SEED. 219 

<5(pot against which the steam was made to play. Here 
was an occurrence opposing the common observation of 
mankind, that water will always extinguish fire by rea- 
son of its own incombustibility. Water kept at or be- 
low a certain temperature will extinguish lire, and so 
will oil ; hut if water be raised to heat sufficiently high, 
it will also burn, or undergo decomposition like oil. 
As far as I could judge from the phenomena before 
me, water in proper circumstances, underwent a true 
combustion, and was inflammable for the same reason 
that oil was, because it contained a something that would 
bum, and this something seemed to be exactly similar 
to that which made oil capable of exhibiting flame." 

If water be combustible is it not surprising that it 
has not hitherto been more frequently used as fuel ? 



ON THE RAISING 

OF RED CLOVER SEED. BY EZRA l'hOMMEDIEU, £S«)[* 

NEW YORK AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

RED clover seed of late years has become an arti- 
cle of exportation, by which the price has increased, and 
the production become very profitable to the farmer. 
More red clover seed is carried to market from Suflolk 
county than from the whole state besides. It is not un- 
common for a farmer in that county to sell thirty bushels 
of this seed in a year, which in many instances brings 
him more clear profit than all the rest of the produce of 
his farm. As the laisingof this seed is but very little 
attended to in other parts of the state, I shall describe 
the manner of raising it in that county. It grows best 
on a light sandy soil, on a light loamy soil, or on a soil 
of light loam mixed with sand ; the seed is collected 
both from the first crop and from the second crop ; but 
the largest quantity is procured from the first crop. By 
sowing clover seed, three or four pounds to the acre, on 
light loamy soils (where you sow wheat or rye) which 
yield eight or ten bushels to the acre, the red clover 
will not be profitable to mow, but standing thin on the 
ground, the heads will be well filled with seed ; these 
fields are kept up the next year till the seed is collected j 
when you perceive about one half of the field to have 



230 ON RAISING RED CLOVER SEED. 

changed its colour by the drying of the clover heads, you 
then begin to collect them, which is done by a machine 
invented at Brookhaven, in SuflFolk countv. It is drawn 
by a horse and guided by a man or boy, who will collect 
from the field by this means, the heads of clover growing 
on five acres in one day: the price of collecting is two 
shillings and six pence per acre. This machine is of 
simple construction ; it is nothing more than an open box 
of about four feet square at the bottom and about two 
feet high on three sides ; one part, which we may call 
the fore p'^rt, is open ; on this part is fixed fingers, simi- 
lar to the fingers of a cradle, about three feet long and so 
near together as to break off the heads from the clover 
stocks, which are taken between those fingers ; the heads 
are thrown back into the box as the horse walks on. The 
box is fixed on an axle-tree, supported by two small 
wheels of about two feet diameter ; two handles are fixed 
to the box behind, by which the man or boy at the same 
time he guides the horse, lowers or raises the fingers of 
the machine so as to take off all the heads from the grass ; 
as often as the box gets full of heads, they are thrown 
out, and the horse goes on again. 

Another instrument is used for collecting hay seed, 
which is called a cradle. It is made of a piece of oak 
board of about eighteen inches long and ten broad ; 
about nine inches of this board, which we may call the 
fore part, is sawed into fingers of about nine inches long; 
a handle is fixed into the board on the back part, almost 
at right angles, inclining towards the fingers; a cloth is 
put round the back part of the board, which is cut 
rounding, and raised on the handle ; this collects or 
keeps fron; scattering the heads, which are struck off 
from the grass by this cradle; different sizes are used, 
less than the above described, for women and children, 
who collect large quantities in this way. 

On rich lands, ordinarily, no seed is raised from the 
first crop. If the land is highh^ manured, or otherwise 
verv good, the first crop of grass is so thick ihat it yields 
no seed worth gathering ; the second crop being shorter 
and thinner, is commonly well seeded. Sometimes con-^ 
siderabie quantities of seed is gathered from the first 
cr^p, on the land where the wheat is cut the same year ; 
the stubble prevents the clover from growing too thick to 
produ':e seed. 

The second crop of grass on good land is mowed so 
high as to cut off the head^ of the clover, and as little of 



ON RAISING HF.D CLOVER SEED. 221 

the grass as possible ; a man will mow two or three acres 
in this manner in a claw The time of mowing is when 
at least one hall oi the heads are turned or become dry ; 
it is thtn raktd immtdiaiely into small heaps or cocks, 
ot the quantity oi about the bigness of a large corn 
basket. 

The machine used for collecting this seed, and drawn 
bv a horse, is seldom made use ol in collecting from 
the second crop : those who do not own a machine, 
suppose the expense of hiring with the loss of seed 
trod down by the horse, aiid levelled with the wheels, 
being nearly equal to the expense of mowing the se- 
cond crop. 

All the heads of clover, in what manner soever col- 
lected, ought to be put into small heaps or cocks in the 
field, and there exposed, that tht- husk may rot (which 
generally takes about three weeks in Suffolk county) 
otherwise it will be with great difficulty they get out the 
seed. Some attention ought to be paid to these heaps or 
cocks, lest they should rot too much next the ground ', 
it will sometimes be necessary in case of much rain to 
turn the heap ; by rubbing the heads in your hand it may 
easily be perceived when the husk is sufficiently rotten. 
Whenever it is found the heaps are sufficiently rotted 
and dry, they are carted into the barn, and whenever it 
is found convenient the seed is thrashed out on the barn 
floor, and cleaned with a wire riddle. 

The greatest yield I have known was one bushel and 
four quarts from one quarter of an acre of land — but this 
produce was extraordinary. This seed is sown in dif- 
ferent quantities, according to the richness of the soil, 
and the use that is proposed to be made of the grass. If 
seed is to be collected from the first crop, the clover 
seed is generally sown with wheat on lands which pro- 
duce from eight to twelve bushels by the acre. The 
grass on such lands will not be too thick to produce seed 
from the first crop. Some farmers instead of sowing 
the clover seed on such grounds at the time of sowing 
their wheat, sow it the last of February or the first of 
March, on a light snow. If your land be rich, and you 
mean to mow the first crop and collect seed from the se- 
cond, eight pounds is not too much to put on one acre. 
If this is all sown at the time of sowing the wheat, it may 
be killed with the wmter ; if it is not, so much grass 
commonly injures the crop of wheat ; if it is all sown, 
the last of February or the first of March, and a dry sea. 



222 OBSERVATIONS ON OPIUM. 

son should follow, while the roots are young and tender, 
then the crop of grass will be lost. I have found it the 
safest way, to sow one half the clover seed proposed for 
an acre, at the time you sow the wheat, and the other 
half on the same land in the last of the winter or the first 
of the spring. 

Some farmers a little before they cart out their dung 
from their cow yards, to dung wheat, scatter the heads 
of clover all over the yard, sufficient to seed the land 
they propose to dung; the clover heads being trodden 
into the dung by the cattle, and otherwise mixed by cart- 
ing out, spreading and ploughing in the dung, the seed 
comes up exceeding well, and being deeply rooted is not 
subject to injury by drought or frosts The only objec- 
tion to this mode is, that the quantity of grass is apt to 
hurt the crop of wheat. 



OBSERVATONS ON OPIUM, 

AND ITS COMPONENT PRINCIPLES; WITH AN ACCOUNT OF VA- 
RIOUS PROCESSES FOR OBTAINING IT FROM THE WHITE 

POPPY. (pa PAVER SOMNIFERUM. LINN.) BY CITIZEN 

BURUC, SENIOR. 

FKOM THE A>JNALES DE CHIMIE. 

THE natural history of opium does not appear to 
fee hitherto generally well understood. It is doubted 
whether there exists any drop opium, (de Vopium en 
larmes,J All that seems to be fully established as a fact 
is, that this singular substance is extracted by the inha- 
bitants of the east from the white somniferous poppy ; 
but the following questions respecting it still remain to 
be resolved. What are the processes used for obtainhig 
it I What degree of maturity must this plant have arrived 
at, in order to produce opium such as that of commerce t 
Finally. Is this vegetable subjected to any particular 
kind of preparation, before the opium is extracted ? 

None of these questions have been satisfactorily de- 
termined by any of the writers who have treated of this 
subjects 



OBSERVATIONS On OPIUM. 22o 

Several natural historians, and especially Lemery, in 
kis dictionary of simple drugs, asserts positively that 
there exists no drop-opium^ and that the opium of the 
Levant is obtained from the leaves and heads of the pop- 
py. The most celebrated chymists who have treated 
of the subject, such as Fourcroy, Chaptal, Beaum^, 
Bouillon-Lagrange, &c. are not agreed amongst them- 
selves, whether it is extracted from the leaves, stalks, 
and capsules, whilst still fresh and green, or whether it 
is obtained directly from the heads of the poppy when 
arrived at its last stage of growth and maturity, by ma- 
king the extract in the ordinary manner. 

This difference of opinion which exists among authors 
whose knowledge in natural science cannot be called in 
question, determined me, two years ago, to occupy my- 
self with the investigation of the nature of this substance,, 
by cultivating, with this view, a great number of white 
poppies. ( Papaver album £s? somniferum, Linn, J 

But before I give an account of the various experi- 
ments which I have made in order to obtain opium, it 
will be proper that we should establish our opinion con- 
cerning two facts relative to this substance, such as it is 
brought to us from the Levant in the ordinary course of 
commerce. 

It is certain that the oriental opium contains impuri- 
ties amounting at least to one-fourth of its weight. I 
have frequently examined these heterogeneous sub- 
stances, and, after different washings, I have easily dis- 
covered, that they were nothing else than the stalks, 
leaves, feculse, peduncules, capsules, and seeds of the 
poppy, in a state of very minute division. 

I shall show hereafter that the addition of these sub 
stances contributes in a very great degree to give the 
opium that acrid and nauseous smell which it is known 
to possess. 

It is also known, that this acrid odour is extremely 
volatile, and that frequently it is not found to exist any 
longer at the surface of the cakes of opium, whether in 
consequence of the length of time that they have been 
kept, or owing to some artificial means that have been 
employed for that purpose ; whilst the lower part of the 
same cake, which is still viscous, is thoroughly imbued 
with it, and emits an intolerable smell when cut through 
the middle ; hence it appears, that this volatile princi- 
ple, or aroma^ is only an accidental property of the 
opium. 



224 OBSERVATIONS ON OPltTX. 

The following experiments will elucidate what I have 
advanced, both with respect to the two last mentioned 
facts, and the solution of the questions which 1 have pro- 
posed at the commencement of this memoir. 

Experiment 1. If we dr}- viscous opium, in a tempe- 
rature not exceeding 40 — 50 degrees of Reaumur's ther- 
mometer, till it becomes pulverulent, it will lose its acrid 
narcotick smell, and assume that of laudanum, or the 
purified opium of the shops, from which it differs only 
in the impurities which it contains. The vapours which 
arise from it, when collected in a convenient apparatus, 
become there in part condensed into a liquid, which at 
first is almost colourless, but in the space of a itw days 
assumes a slight yellowish tinge. This aroma, or dis- 
tilled spirit, is accompanied b) an aeriform fluid, which 
is not altogether miscible with water, and both diffuse an 
odour resembling that of opium cakes when cut in half, 
but so extremel}- strong as very speedily to suffocate ani- 
mals exposed to an atmosphere of this gas. 

Last year I made the extract of white poppies, ga- 
thered at different periods of their growth, without ever 
having been able to obtain a substance that had the smell 
of opium, or even that of laudanum. I only perceived 
that a heap of poppy leaves that had been throw^n awav, 
exhaled an aromatick principle very analogous to that 
which was obtained in the preceding experiment. This 
led me to make the following experiments. 

Experiment 2. On the 3d Prairial (22d May) last, 
twelve leaves of the white poppy, which had attained to 
one third of their full growth, were well pounded in a 
marble mortar, without adding any liquid. 1 he juice 
was very abundant, of a brown colour, slightly mucila- 
ginous, and had but little of a bitter taste. The whole 
was put into a vessel of stone ware, and exposed to the 
atmosphere. The temperature of the atmosphere was 
between 10 and 12 degrees Reaum. 

On the 4th I observed a slight swelling in the mass. On 
the morning of the 5th it puffed up prodigiously, and 
already exhaled an acrid odour, very similar to that of 
the aroma obtained by the desiccation of the opium. On 
the 6th, the vapour was exhaled in such large quantity, 
that it was impossible to approach it without becoming 
affected with a violent headach. On the 7th, I exposed 
the vessel to the sun for a space of twelve hours. The 
fermentation became still more vehement : I agitated 
the mass from time to time, attending to w^hat happened. 



OBSERVATIONS ON OPIUM* 225 

I soon perceived that the exhalation of the narcotick 
odour abated, and was partly replaced by another, which 
had much analogy with azotick gas ; the plant and the 
juice acquired a deeper colour j at length they became 
oxydated at the expense of the surrounding air, which 
probably gave birth to the nitrick radical, which, combi- 
ned with the aroma of the plant, produced that peculiar 
odour of which I have been speaking. 

Experiment 3. On the 24th of the same month, twelve 
pounds of poppy, that had arrived at about three-fourths 
of its growth, after having been prepared like those in 
the preceding experiment, were also exposed in a vessel 
to the air. On the 26th, the mass began to ferment^ 
and the acrid narcotick vapour was developed in a very 
perceptible manner; but this time I did not expose the. 
mass to the sun. On the 28th the smell peculiar to 
opium was very perceptible : 1 then pressed out the 
juice, filtrated it cold, and evaporated it, with a very 
moderate heat, to the consistence of an extract. 

I thought I had the best grounds to expect that I 
should obtain real opium as the result of this experi- 
ment ; but I was disappointed ; for, in proportion as the 
juice gradually thickened, it lost its narcotick odour, 
and the extract which I obtained had no other smell 
than that peculiar to the extract obtained from inodorus 
plants : hence I drew the further conclusion, that this 
aroma was of the same nature as that obtained in experi- 
ment 1. 

Experiment 4. On the 14th of Messidor (2d July) 
following, I expressed two pounds of juice from poppies 
partly in bloom, and partly ready to blossom. This 
juice was of a dirty yellow colour, nearly resembling 
that of the Chelidonium majus ; it had a very slight smell 
of laudanum, and a marked bitterness, and left a veiry 
considerable roughness upon the tongue. I exposed it 
to the air in a vessel of earthen ware, in which it fer^ 
mented rapidly, so that, on the 17th, it exhaled an odour 
similar to that of the opium of Egypt. This juice I fiU 
trated cold, and, hoping to preserve its odour, I thick- 
ened it by exposing it in plates to the heat of the sun« 
The extract which I obtained still resembled that of the 
preceding experiment. 

Experiment 5. On the the 19th Messidor, I extracted 
about one kilogramme of the juice of poppy heads, part" 
ly in flower, and partly after the leaves had fallen off^ 
and the capsules had become very large. This juice 



226 OBSERVATIONS ON OPIUM. 

was more bitter than that obtained in the preceding ex* 
periments. I reduced it to one half of its quantity by 
the application of a very gentle heat, hoping that the 
mass being more dense, and its particles in closer con- 
tact with each other, I should obtain, after fermentation, 
a substance whose odorous principles would be more 
coercible. 

The juice thus inspissated did not begin to ferment 
till the 25th) though the heat of the atmosphere was 
greater thaij during the preceding experiments. On the 
30th it had the desired odour, and the experiment seem- 
ed verr promising. 

Again I was disappointed. I reduced half of the mass 
to an extract, which perfectly resembled that obtained in 
experiment 3 and 4: the other half I kept in a well, 
corked cask, to be used in another experiment. 

Experiment 6. On the 28th of Messidor, four hecto- 
grammes of capsules, sufficiently green, but arrived at 
their full size, and twelve decagrammes of the leaves 
and stalks pulled off near to the peduncle of the plant, 
were well bruised and pounded in a mortar. They yield- 
ed a thick viscous mass, and the juice was deeper co- 
loured, and more bitter than that obtained in the prece- 
ding experiments. The whole being exposed to the air 
in an earthen vessel, it soon fermented, and four days 
were sufficient to produce the evolution of an odour like 
that of the true oriental opium. 

Of this mass I preserved one part, to be used after- 
wards, and inspissated the other in a temperature not 
exceeding 40 degrees. This extract retained a very 
slight smell of laudanum : it was a mixture nearly simi- 
lar to the opium of commerce, excepting that the aroma 
had been evaporated by the heat. 

It would be superfluous to describe here the numerous 
e'xperiments Vv-hich followed the two lastmentioned : the 
result in each of them was an inodorous extract, or one 
almost so. It is, however, proper to observe, that the 
pounded leaves, stalks, capsules, &c. of the poppies, 
always exhaled, after fermenting, for a longer or shorter 
period, the narcotick odour, or that of the aroma, ob- 
tained in experiment 1 , but they lost it again after being 
exposed ten or twelv^e days to the air. 

Before I proceed to relate other experiments, I ought 
to mention several remarks which I have made upon pop- 
pies, from the period at which they blossom till that 
when the capsule begins to grow yeUow, after which 
they exude no more juice. 



OBSERVATIONS ON OPIUM. 227 

During a period of fifteen days, I made incisions, 
both upon the peduncule and upon the lower part of a 
great number of very fine poppy heads, from whence 
there issued a whitish yellow juice, almost inodorous, 
but very bitter, which filled up the incision, and assumed 
a blackish colour in a very short space of time : its taste 
was not changed by exposure to the air, but it first ac- 
quired the acrid odour, which, in the preceding expe- 
riments, was developed by fermentation : this, however, 
was soon evaporated by exposure to the sun, and the 
juice retained only that of laudanum. 

I ako remarked in my bed of poppies, that some of 
the capsules were of a form almost entirely spherical, 
whilst others affected the oval figure. 
# The first naturally produced opium without any inci- 
sion being made into them. This juice collected itself 
in two, three, and sometimes four sutures, which are 
found in the peduncule, where it concretes, and in a 
very short time acquires the smell and colour of lauda- 
num. I have collected small masses of it, some of which 
weighed eight grains. I took two grains of this opium, 
which procured me a very tranquil and protracted sleep. 
This was drop-opium. 

All these poppies were sowed on the 10th of Germi- 
nal last, (March 30^) in a very rich and well manured 
soil, defended against north and north-east winds, bv a 
building and a wall. The finest plants were at the dis- 
distance of a foot from each other. 

Nature having completed her work, I imagined also, 
according to the result of experiment 6, that it would be 
possible for me to attain my object, and make opium 
with poppies arrived at their last degree of maturity. 

Experiment 7. For this purpose I took twelve fine 
poppy heads, six of which were oval and six globular. 
I pounded them together with their seeds, with twenty- 
four decagrammes of rain water. Having exposed them 
to the air, in an earthen vessel, I was very much sur- 
prised, four days afterwards, to observe spots of mould 
upon them. I repeatedly stirred the whole mass, but 
none of the phenomena of the preceding experiments 
took place : the mass, left to itself, was destroyed in the 
manner usual with all vegetables. 

Experiment 8. I made an extract, according to the 
usual method, (by decoction) from a considerable quan- 
tity of poppies. The decoction was saturated, and be- 
came slightly mucilaginous as it cooled, without how- 



228 OBSERVATIONS ON OPIUM. 

ever emitting any thing of the odour either of opium or 
of laudanum. I gave the extract a pulverulent consist- 
ence : it differed essentially from those of the inodorous 
plants, possessing a degree of cohesion which is not 
usual with those, and which I attributed to the resin con- 
tained in it, &c. 

Experiment 9. A portion of the dried extract ob- 
tained in the preceding expet-iment was well triturated 
with a sufficient quantity of the viscous residuum that 
had been laid by in experiment 5, in order to obtain a 
mass having the same consistence as the opium of com- 
merce. This mixture much resembled the laudanum of 
the shops in colour, taste, and smell. 

Experiment 10. The other portion of the extract 
obtained in experiment 8, was likewise reduced to the 
consistence of opium with the residuum that had been 
laid by in experiment 6. Three days after its formation, 
this mass might, by its impurities, viscidity, colour and 
taste, have been confounded with the opium of the Le- 
vant, excepting that it was not wrapped, and in some 
measure kneaded with poppy leaves,^ 

To sum up the results of my observations, I am indu- 
ced by the experiments above related, to believe : 
4 1. That the opium of commerce is not merely the ex- 
tract or inspissated juice of the stalks, leaves, or green 
capsules of the poppies ; for, were that the case, it would 
not contain so large a quantity of impurities, which are 
distributed in an ^Imost uniform manner throughout the 
whole mass, 

2. That this same juice or extract, if prepared with 
the intervention of heat, however moderate, would not 
have the acrid nauseous odour, which the oriental opium 
retains as long as it preserves its viscidity, as is demon- 
strated by experiments 3, 4, 5, and even 6. 

3. That the opium of the East is not the mere extract 
prepared by the infusion or decoction of the heads of the 
white poppy after it arrives at the stage of maturity ; 
since that which was obtained by experiment 8, was 
by no means odorous, and was also exempt from im- 
purities. 



* I have observed that poppy leaves, when half diy, contract the 
narcotick smell, vrhich leads me to believe, that they are used in the 
East, thus prepared, for vTapping-the cake^ of opium in them. 



OBSERVATIONS ON OPIUM. 229 

I should add, that I have had in my possession cap- 
sules of the white poppy of Egypt, between which and 
those cultivated in France there appeared to me to be no 
difference. 

4. That it appears to be made out by experiments 9 
and 10, that the opium of the East is the inspissated ex- 
tract ot every kind of the white poppies, gathered from 
the time when they begin to flower till they have arrived 
at maturity, and afterwards mixed together, and reduced 
to the consistence which is observed in the acrid odorous 
mass, obtained from the stalks, leaves, and green cap- 
sules, of the same kind of poppies, pounded and fer- 
mented till the moment when the acrid nauseous odour is 
evolved as appears by the result of the above men- 
tioned experiments, and particularly experiment 6 ; and, 
finally, that this mass is divided into cakes, which are 
wrapped and kneaded at their surface with poppy leaves, 
in part dried, and thus sent to foreign nations. 

5. That it appears, by the observations inserted be- 
tween experiments 6 and 7, that there does really exist 
drop opium, and that the substance which is thus termed 
by some natural historians, naturally exudes from that 
variety of the white poppy, the capsules of which affect 
the spherical form. 

This opium differs from that of commerce by its' be- 
ing almost entirely soluble in water, by its purity, by its 
taste, which is less bitter and acrid than that of the latter, 
and by its odour, which is lessnarcotick and nauseous. 

This invesigation is not so complete as might be 
wished i and I am well aware of numerous objections 
that might be made against what I have advanced, such 
as the analysis of my opium compared with that of com- 
merce, its medicinal qualities, &:c. &c, I have not the 
vanity to imagine that I have completed the work which 
I have undertaken, but its deficiencies may still be sup- 
plied. I did not think it necessary to enlarge upon the 
medicinal virtues of this substance. This part of the in- 
vestigation is the province of the medical writer: I only 
assert that the drop opium which I obtained produced a 
perfect tranquillity in the system, without occasioning 
vertigo. 

However, I do not doubt the possibility of procuring 
good opium from poppies cultivated in the temperate 
zone ; and the reader is also requested to observe that 
those upon which I made my experiments were raised in 
one of the northern departments in France. I wish that 



^0 OBSERVATIONS ON OPIUM. 

the same experiments might be repeated with poppies 
raised in the south of the Republick. I keep a con- 
siderable number both of the spherical and oval kind, 
and shall with pleasure procure them for anv person 
who may be inclined to occupy himself with this kind 
of labour, and to bring to perfection a work of which 
I have only sketched the outlines. When this shall be 
accomplished, we shall cease to be tributary to the 
-foreign nations who sell us this substance at a very 
high price. 



ON THE CULTURE OF OPIUM. 

FROM THE ANNALS OF MEDICINE FOR 1796. 

AMONG the premiums given by the Society in 
London for the encouragement of arts, manufactures, 
and commerce, for the year 1796, is one of fifty guineas 
to Mr. John Ball of Williton, for the discovery of his 
method of preparing English opium. The opium is 
attested by several physicians who have made trial of it, 
and whose letters are inserted, to be at least equal in 
efficacy in the same dose to foreign opium. Mr. Ball 
in one of his letters in the correspondence with the 
society on this subject, asserts that he has no doubt that 
the opium which he prepares from poppies in his own 
garden, may be afforded at half the price of foreign 
opium : for that, in a few years we shall be able to ren- 
der it from five to eight shillings per pound, without the 
least adulteration. Atid I am of opinion, says he, that 
the more barren ground, which, in some places lets at 
from two to ten shillings an acre, will, with very little 
expense answer for the growth of poppies. I shall take 
care, this summer, to find out whether any particular 
sort or colour produces the most opium. 

We shall give the letter entire, which contains the 
method of preparing the English opium. 

My Lords and Gentlemen^ 
By your secretary Mr. Moore, I received your reso- 
lutions respecting your purchasing from me the mode of 
my preparing the sample of opium, which I took the 



ON THE CULTURE OF OPIUJT. )I31 

liberty 6f sending to you, and at the same time, to beg 
the favour of your having a sufficient trial of its proper- 
ties, which I find you have been so obliging as to have 
done, and likewise to have granted me the fifty guineas, 
as purchase of my method of preparing opium, for 
which you have my sincere thanks. I am exceedingly 
pleased to find, that it was thought worthy of the no- 
tice of so honourable and reputable a society ; and I am 
satisfied there can be no other mode of preparing or 
collecting the pure and genuine opium than what fol- 
lows : 

Nothing can be more simple, or attended with less ex- 
pense, than the making or extracting the pure and genuine 
opium from the large poppies, commonly called or known 
by the name of garden poppies, the seeds of which I 
would advise to be sown the latter end of February, 
and again about the second week in March, in beds 
about three feet and a half wide, well prepared with 
good rotten dung, and afterwards turned and ploughed, 
in order to mix it well, and have it fine, either in 
small drills, three in each bed, in the manner sallads arc 
sown, and when about two inches high, to thin them 
one foot apart ; or otherwise to rear them in beds in 
the broad cast way, and thin them to the same distance ; 
and if the weather should prove wet at that time, those 
that are taken up may be transplanted ; but I do not 
suppose that the transplanted ones will answer, as they 
have but one root, and require frequent waterings. 
Keep them free from weeds, they will grow well, and 
produce from four to ten heads, showing large and dif- 
ferent coloured flowers, which, when the leaves die 
away and drop off, the pods then being in a green state, 
is the proper time for extracting the opium, by making 
four large longitudinal incisions, with a sharp pointed 
knife, about an inch long, on one side only of the seed- 
pod, just through the scarf-skin, taking care not to cut 
to the seedo. Immediately, on the incision being made, 
a milky fluid will issue out, which is the opium, and 
being of a glutinous nature or substance it will adhere 
to the bottom of the incision ; but some are so luxu- 
rient, that it will drop from the pod on the leaves under- 
neath. The next day, if the weather should be fine and 
a good deal of sunshine, the opium will be found, a 
greyish substance, and some almost turning black. It 
is then to be scraped off the pods, and if any, from the 
leaves, with the edge of a knife, or an instrument for 



ftS2 ON THE CULTURE OF OPIUM. 

that purpose, into pans or pots ; and in a day or two it 
will be of a consistence to make into a mass, and to be 

*potted. 

As soon as you have taken away all the opium from 
one side of the pod, then make incisions on the opposite 
side, and proceed in the same manner. The reason 
of my not making incisions all around at first is, that 
you cannot so conveniently take away the opium ; but 
every person, upon trial will be the best judge. 

Children may with ease be soon taught to make the 
incisions, and to take off the opium ; so that the ex- 
pense will be found exceedinglv triflmg. The small 
white seeds in that state will be found very sweet and 
pleasant, and mav be eaten without the least danger; 
and it is the custom in the east to carry a plate of them 
to the table, after dinner, with other fruits. 

I intend, this year, to keep apart a small quantity of 
opium from each coloured poppv, to find outir any one, 
more than another, produces a greater quantity or of 
gi'eater strength, and shall save seeds or each to sow 
separately the next spring. I am of opinion that num- 
bers of inclosures taken from hills in a south aspect with 
a very little expense, may be brought into a proper 
state tor the growth of poppies. 

I should think that an instrument may be made, of a 
concave form, with four or five pointed lancets, about 
the twelfth or fourteenth of an inch, to make the inci- 
sions at once ; and likewise something of the rake kind, 
so that three drills, which I have directed to be made 
in each bed may be performed at the same time. 

By a calculation which I have made, supposing one 
poppv growing in one square foot of earth, and pro- 
ducing one grain of opium, more than fifty pounds will 
be collected from one statute acre of land ; but upon 
recollecting, that one poppv produces from three or four 
to ten heads, and, in each head from six to ten incisions 
are made, and 1 am positive from many of them (I 
mean one incision) the last year, I took away two or 
three grains ; what must then be the produce ? Opium 
is now twenty-two shillings the pound. 

I am, &c. 
(Signed) JOHN BALL. 

Williton, 2d June, 1795. 

In a subsequent letter, jNIr. Ball states, that the ex- 
periment of transplanting did not succeed, not one plant 



ON THE CULTURE OF OPIUM. 23S 

coming to perfection. The pods should be about the 
size of a walnut before the incision is made. The dried 
heads from London, being three times as big, must 
afford much more opium. 

In another subsequent letter, Mr. Ball informs th^ 
Society, that double, or semi-double poppies gave more 
than twice what is collected from the single. One 
poppy, which had twenty eight heads, afforded above 
thirty grains of opium. It was of a semi-double kind, 
and the opium was of better quality than from single 
heads. The article closes with letters of testimonies, 
namely, from Dr. Latham, Dr. Pearson, and Mr. Go 
Wilson of Covent Garden, who all agree, that the En- 
glish is at least equal in efficacy, to the best foreign 
opium. 



EXPERIMENTS 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE POPPY PLANT, AND THE ME- 
THOD OF PROCURING OPIUM, &C. BY DR. SHADRACH RICK* 
ITSON, OF DUTCHESS COUNTY, NEW YORK* 

FROM THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE PUBLISHED IN NEW YORK. 

OPIUM is the produce of t\\Q papaver somniferurn 
of Linnaeus, which, as a genus comprehends two species, 
viz. 1. The double ; 2. The single ; each of which in- 
cludes several varieties as to the colour of the flowers, 
some being white, some red, others purple and va* 
riegated. 

From history we are told, that in the several pro- 
vinces of Asia, it is the large white poppy only that 
is cultivated for the purpose of collecting opium ; but 
from the trials I have made, I am of opinion that it is 
a matter of indifference which species or variety of the 
plant is cultivated for medicinal use, as they all afford, 
when tapped, a juice that is similar as to quantity, colour, 
and everv other respect, both fresh, and when dried ; 
however, I have thought that the large double species 
produces the greatest number of heads, and consequent- 

H h 



234 * ON THE CULTURE OF OPIUM. 

ly the greatest quantity of juice from one seed ; but of 
this I have not yet had sufficient trials to be certain. 

Among the poppies cultivated with a view to make 
the present experiments, I had some that had thirty 
heads apiece, all of which sprung from one seed, and 
from one original stock. 

The poppy seeds in this country should be sown or 
planted about the middle of May, in rich, moist ground. 

The ground should be formed into areas of about 
four feet in width. The seeds should be planted at 
about ten or twelve inches distance in transverse rows, 
which should always be about the same distance from 
each other. 

Shallow holes, of an inch depth should be made in 
the rows at the distance mentioned ; the seeds put in, 
and covered over even with the ground ; after which 
they are suiBfered to remain till the plants are grown 
about four inches high, when, especially if the land is 
dry and not fertile, they may be frequently watered and 
manured, the best for which last purpose is said to be 
a compost of ashes, dung, and a nitrous earth. 

They are said in the East-Indies to water them again 
profusely just before the flowers appear; but as I have 
had them grow very luxuriant and succulent in good 
ground, without either manuring or watering, I am dis- 
posed to think that the advantages arising from this last 
particular are not equal to the trouble of doing it. 

It is scarcely necessary to remark that the plants, at 
their first coming up should be kept clean from weeds 
and the like, which may be done with very little trouble 
with a small hoe, especially if the seeds are planted 
after the manner I directed, that is, in rows. 

Having said all that is necessary on the cultivation of 
the plant, I shall now proceed to describe the method 
of obtaining its juice, which, when inspissated to a pi- 
lular consistence is called opium. 

The states of the plants wherein I have found them 
to yield most juice, are just before, in the time of, and 
immediately after flowering, the plants being arrived 
to one or the other of the states above mentioned. 

We then proceed to that part of the process called 
tapping, which we are told is done in Asia, by making 
two or three longitudinal incisions in the half grown 
capsules, without penetrating their cavities at sunset, and 
the plants suffered to remain till morning, when the 
juice is to be scraped oft and v/orked in a proper vessel, 



ON THE CULTURE OF OPIUM. 235 

in a moderate heat till it becomes of a pilular con- 
sistence : which method with several others I have tried, 
but none have succeeded so well with me as, in a sun- 
shining day, to cut of the stocks at about an inch dis- 
tance from their flowers or capsules, and as soon as 
the juice appears, which it does at first equally \yell 
on the part of the stalk cut off with the capsule or 
flower as on the standing part, to collect it with a small 
scoop or penknife, the last of which I have found to 
answer the purpose very well. After the juice ceases 
to appear on the top of the standing stalk, it should 
be cut off" about an inch lower, when it will be found 
to yield almost as freely as before, and repeated as 
long as the juice appears. 

The juice, when, collected should be put into an eva- 
porating pan, placed in the sun's heat, and frequently 
stirred till it becomes of a consistence to form into pills, 
or made into rolls, for keeping or transportation. 

The quantity of opium that may be procured, depends 
very much upon the largeness of our plants, and tht 
c^re used in collecting it. 



REMARK By T. G. F. 

There is perhaps no article of culture which presents 
more alluring prospects to the industrious farnver, than 
that of the poppy. The opium may be collected by 
women and children, and it would be a very poor crop 
indeed which did not amount to 50 lb. an acre. The 
present price of opium (March 1808) in Philadelphia is 
fourteen dollars. An acre of land then, on the most 
moderate calculation will produce opium to ♦he value of 
700 dollars, provided this article should continue at the 
present price ; and even allowing it to fall one half the 
profits arising from this species of culture vVould still 
be very great. 



2S6 METHOD or FORMING IRON RAIL ROADS. 



SPECIFICATION 

OF THE PATENT GRANTED TO JONATHAN WOODHOUSE, OF 
ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH, IN THE COUNTY OF LEICESTER, CIVIL 
ENGINEER , FOR A NEW METHOD OF FORMING A CAST-IROIf 
RAIL, OR PLATE, WHICH MAY BE USED IN MAKING IRON 
RAIL ROADS OR TRAYS, FOR THE WORKING AND RUNNING 
OF WAG 'NS, DRAYS, AND OTHER CARRIAGES, ON PUBLICK 
AND OTHER ROADS ; AND ALbO, A NEW METHOD OF FIXING, 
FASTENING, AND SECURING. SUCH CAST-IRON RAIL OR 
'PLATE, ON hUCH ROADS. DATED FEBRUARY 28, 1803. 

WITH A PLATE. 

TO all to whom these presents shall come, &c» 
Now know ye, that the said Jonathan Woodhouse, in 
and by this his instrument in writing, under his hand 
and seal, pursuant to, and in compliance with, the terms 
of the said in part recited proviso, doth hereby declare, 
that the said invention is described in manner following; 
that is to say : The rail or plate is made of cast iron, 
and the upper part or surface thereof is concave : the 
width of which rail or plate may be increased or di- 
minished as may best suit the size of the wheels of the 
carriages that may be worked upon the particular roads 
where the rails or plates are used. The method of 
fixing, fastening, and securing the cast iron rails or 
plates is to place them on bearings, at convenient dis- 
tances, which are to be fixed firm and solid in the earth, 
and to fasten the rails or plates to such bearings with 
wrought-iron screws, or cutter bolts. The bearings 
for the rails or plates may be made of timber, stone^ 
cast-iron, or wood-piles ; and if the rails or plates are 
properly fixed to sCich bearings with wrought-iron screws, 
or cutter bolts, and the road is made even with the 
surface of the external or outer edges of the rails or 
plates either with stone, gravel, or wood, or any other 
road materials, the rails or plates will be immovable, 
and the wheels of the carriages used thereon will pass 
over the same with facility: and, by reason of the con- 
cave form and manner of fixing of the said rails or plates, 
no shock which they can receive (except some wilful 
force is maliciously used) can injure or break them. 
Those rails or plates may be used on private as well ae 
on publick or other roads, with a great advantage where 
a multiplicity of business is to be carried on j and by 



METHOD OF TOKMING IRON RAIL ROADS. 237 

reason of such the concave form, and manner of fixing 
them, they admit of the wheels of carriages to get 
upon, or from them, with facility in any direction. 
And the wheels working on those rails will move with 
great smoothness and ease. The ahove or annexed plans 
or drawings show the cast iron rails or plates (see plate 
XI, fig. 3.) and the method of fixing, fastening, and se- 
curing them, of which the following are the explanations. 
The plans or drawings, numbered 1, show the upper 
surface of the rails or plates upon which the diflPerent 
carriage wheels are intended to run. The drawings 
numbered 2 show the elevation or end view of the 
plates or rails, and their form at the ends and sides^ 
and how they are fixed to the bearings. The drawings 
numbered 3, show the side view of the rails with the 
bearings under them. The parts in which drawings 
marked o, a, a, a, show the ends of the feet, or the 
bases of the metal which rest on the bearings. And 
the letters b^ h^ 6, ^, ^, on the drawings numbered 2 and 
3, show the bearings upon which the aforesaid bases or 
feet rest. The drawings or sections, numbered 4, 
show the section of the base or underside of the rails as 
atcc, cc, cc^ cc^ cc, cc. These recesses are purpose- 
ly made to receive the wrought-iron screws or cutter 
bolts, which serve the double purpose of preserving and 
securing the cast-iron rails or plates in a direct line with 
each other, and of firmly securing them on their respec- 
tive bearings, d^ d^ a^ d^ in the same drawings or sec- 
tions, show the stays cast between the sides of the 
rails or plates, which brace them together at the bottom 
edges. The drawings or sections of the plate number- 
ed 5, show the upper surface of a diced or chequered 
rail or plate, which will be convenient and proper to be 
laid in sheets, and where roads meet or cross each other, 
as they will prevent the horses feet from slipping, and 
will therefore he more particularly useful in such roads 
or shoots as have a declivity or descent. The two 
drawings numbered 6, show the surface of the iron 
rails or plates when fixed in a road or street, vv^here 
the road or street is paved with stone. The two draw- 
ings numbered 7, show the iron-rails in a publick or 
common road, made with the usual materials of gravel 
and stone, or other road materials, with this difference, 
that with a view to keep the rail or plate as free from 
gravel, sand, and other things as possible, a course of 
stones is placed on each side of the rail or plate, but 



238 METHOD OF FORMING IRON RAIL KOADS. 

which may be used or not, as is found most convenient. 
And the said Jonathan Woodhouse doth hereby declare 
and affirm that the particulars, above set forth, do con- 
tain a full, true, and perfect description of the nature 
of the said invention. In witness whereof, &c. 

REMARKS ON THE ADVANTAGES OF CONCAVE IRON ROADS* 

BY THE PATENTEE. 

Two h-^rses would on this road convey a mail coach 
more than eight miles per hour as easy as the present 
mails are conveyed six miles per hour by four horses. 
The conveyance would be so easy that gentlemen might 
read nearly as well as on board a ship : The even and 
compact manner in which this road would be laid, would 
render it the safest of all others, with the additional 
advantage of using wheels of any diameter. As this 
road might be kept constantly moist it would have a 
singular advantage over other iron roads, in keeping 
the metal perfectly cool, and consequently less friction 
and wear. It has ever been an object in the projec- 
tion of canals to bring them as near towns as possible, 
when, after all, a cartage, or removal, must take place. 
In bringing a canal near a large town the difficulties and 
inconveniences are very great, valuable property is 
wasted, communication (which is very essential) is cut 
off, the situation for the business is limited, no further 
extension can take place ; even this may be in a situa- 
tion where there is an embankment, of course incon- 
venient to load in and out, or if deep cuttings, the 
wharfii are then expensive in excavating. This rail way 
would waste valuable land near a large town in a trifling 
comparative degree to a canal, communication would 
be free, on and over every part of the same ; nor would 
there be any particular limited situation for wharfs or 
warehouses : hence large towns w^ould derive benefit in 
every part near which the road would be extended, car- 
riages would not be liable to break down, nor would the 
wear of tiers, or any part, be pui out of order by vio- 
lent shocks. The easy repairs of carriages on such a 
road will certainly bear no comparison to those on 
common roads. The iron rail-ways in use, wherever 
they are upon and cross a turnpike road, are inconve- 
nient : these, on the contrary, form not the least impe- 
diment. 



A.CCOUNT OF THB PENRHYN IRON RAILWAY. 239 



ACCOUNT 

#F THE PENRHYN IRON RAILWAY. COMMUNICATED BY THE 
INVENTOR, MR. BENJAMIN WYATT, OF LIME GROVE, NEAR 
BANGOR. 

REPERTORY OF ARTS. 

THE following account of the Penrhyn railway, 
with the section of the rail, will, I flatter myself, be 
acceptable to many of your readers. The rail hitherto 
made use of in most railways is a flat one, three feet 
in length, with a rib on one edge, to give it strength, 
and to prevent the wheels (which have a flat rim) from 
running off". Observing that these rails were frequently 
obstructed by stones and dirt lodged upon them ; that 
they were obliged to be fastened to single stones or 
blocks on account of their not rising sufficiently high 
above the sills, to admit of gravelling the horse-path ; 
that the sharp rib standing up was dangerous for the 
horses ; that the strength of the rail was applied the 
wrong way ; and that less surface would create less fric- 
tion ; led me to consider if some better form of rail 
could not be applied ; the oval presented itself as the 
best adapted to correct all the faults of the flat rail, and 
I have the satisfaction to say that it has completely an- 
swered the purpose in a railway lately executed for 
Lord Penrhyn, from his lordship's slate-quarries, in 
Carnarvonshire, to Port Penrhyn (the place of shipping.) 
The whtel made use of on this rail has a concave rim, 
so contrived in its form, and the wheels so fixed upon 
their axis, as to move with the greatest facility in the 
sharpest curves that can be required. It is plain, by 
inspecting the section of this rail (see plate II. fig .4.) 
that no dirt can lodge upon it ; that it must be stronger 
than any other form of the same weight, to resist both 
the perpendicular and lateral pressure ; that it must oc- 
casion very little friction ; that it presents no danger to 
the horse ; and that it may be placed upon the sills, so 
as to admit of a sufficient quantity of gravel to cover 
them. These advantages have so forcibly struck all 
who have seen and examined this road, that I have been 
induced to lay it before the publick through the mediuai 
of the Repertory of Arts and Manufactures. 



240 ACCOUNT OF THE PENRHYN IRON RAILWAY. 

The Penrhyn railway is six miles and a quarter in 
length, divided into five stages. It has three-eighths 
of an inch fall in a yard, with three inclines was be. 
gun in October 1800, and finished in July 1801. 

On this railway two horses will draw twenty-four 
wagons one stage six times a day, and carry twenty- 
four tons each journey, which is 144 tons per day. This 
quantity used to employ 144 carts and 400 horses ; so 
that ten horses will, by means of this railway, do the 
work of four hundred. 

I am, &c. 

BENJAMIN WYATT. 

REFERENCES TO PLATE II. 

Fig. 4, shows the kind of carts used bn this railway. 

Fig. 5, section of the railway, full size, four feet 
six inches long ; weight thirty-six pounds. The part 
below the oval is cast to each end of the rail three inches 
long, to let into the sills, which have dove-tail notches to 
receive them. 

REMARK BY T. G. F. 

The preceding articles we hope will meet with par- 
ticular investigation from gentlemen who propose to 
embark property in cutting canals, and making locks to 
falls in our navigable rivers. If the advantages attend- 
ing these railways are equal to what is here represented 
thev ought in most cases to supercede canal and lock 
navigation* 



SUBSTISTUTE FOR VfiRDlGR18, 24t 



SUBSTITUTE FOR VERDIGRIS. 

IfKOU THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOt* 
RAGEMENT OF ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCE. 

THE silver medal and ten guineas Were given to 
Mr. Clagg, for his discovery of a substitute for Verdigris^ 
in dying black, of which the following is an account^ 
drawn up bvhimself. 

Many articles which are in daily use, both in dying 
and Other arts, have been found by chance to be neces- 
sary, yet sufficient pains haVe not been taken to ascertain 
the principles upon which they act i of this number ii 
verdigris ;^ and as this article was imported to us at a 
very great expense from France, I was induced, some 
years ago, to undertake a course of experiments to in- 
vestigate the manner of its operation, and from thence 
to find, if possible, an effectual substitute, cheaper and 
nearer home. On adding verdigris to the common in- 
gredients of the black die (viz. astringents and martial 
vitriolf) the first thing remarkable is that a quantity of 
iron is precipitated ; for the pieces of verdigris will be 
covered over with the crocus of iron, almost instantly^ 
and a quantity of the copper of the verdigris is at the sattte 
time taken up by the disengaged acid ; as appears by the 
copper coat a knife receives on being held in the liquor ; 
so that the vitriolick acid leaves the iron, with which it 
was combined in martial vitriol, and unites with the 
copper of verdigris, and again leaves the copper to 
unite with iron in its metallick state. The same de- 
composition happens with lead, if sacckarum saturrii be 
made use of instead of verdigris, though lead, accord-^ 
ing to the received doctrine of elective attractions, has 
a still less affinity with iron than copper has» In fact^ 
I find that saccharum satiirni will answer nearly the 
end of verdigris, and though as a substitute to it we 
could reap no advantage from it, yet I think it gives Us 
an insight into the principle upon which verdigris is of 



» Acetate of Copper. f Sulphate qf Iron 

I t 



242 SUBSTITUTE FOR VERDIORIi. 

use in the black die, viz. by uniting with part of the 
acid of the vitriol, and giving the astringent matter of 
the vegetable an opportunity of forming an ink with 
the precipitated iron in greater abundance, and more 
expeditiously than it could otherwise do. Believing 
this to be the true manner of its operation, I went to 
work upon this principle, and substituted alkaline sahs 
in the room of verdigris, as I imagined these would 
be a much more innocent as well as cheaper ingre- 
dient ; for the acid or the corrosive metallick salts arc 
the only hurtful ingredients in the die, and the alkali 
in proper proportion will unite with the subordinate 
acid, and form an innocent neutral salt, vitriolated tav' 
iaj\ Upon the first trials, I was satisfied of the truth 
of my conjectures ; for in all the experiments which I 
made in the small way, the ashes answered at least as 
well as the verdigris : but in real practice in the large, 
I found myself deceived ; for upon dying a kettle of hats 
of twenty-four dozen, though the colour came on sur- 
prisingly at first, yet the liquor soon became weak. I 
made many experiments, which it is useless here to re- 
late, until I united vitriol of copper with the alkali, 
which upon repeated trials, has been found to answer 
perfectly the end of verdigris. The following, I be- 
lieve will be found the just proportions, though there is 
some diiference in the practice of different die houses. 
Saturate two pounds of vitriol of copper, with strong 
solution of alkaline salts (American potashes, when to be 
procured are recommended.) The vitriol will take about 
an equal weight of dry ashes. Both the vitriol and the 
ashes are to be previously dissolved apart. When this 
proportion is mixed, well stirred, and suffered to stand 
a {(iw hours, a precipitate will subside. Upon adding 
a few drops of the solution of ashes, if the mixture 
be saturated, the water on the top of the vessel will 
remain colourless ; but if not, a blue colour will be pro- 
duced, upon which add more ashes ; there is no danger 
of its being a little over saturated with ashes. Take 
care to add the solution of ashes to that of vitriol by 
a little at a time, otherwise the efflorescence which en- 
dues will cause them to overflow the vessel ; these four 
pounds of vitriol of copper and ashes, will be equal to 
about the same weight of verdigris ; and should be added 
to the other liquors of the die at different times, as is 
usual with verdigris. 



OIL FROM SUN-FLOWER SEED. ^42 

iC The black, thus died will be perfectly innocent to the 
goods, rather tending to keep them soft, than corrode 
them, particularly hats, in which there is the greatest 
consumption of verdigris. 

For those who are constantly using verdigris, it woukl 
be proper to have a vessel always at hand, containing a 
saturated solution of vitriol of copper, and another with 
a saturated solution of ashes, ready to mix as they are 
wanted ; for I find they do not answer so well if long 
kept. 



AN ESSAY 



• N THE EXPRESSING OF OIL, FROM SUW-FLOWER SEED, &C. 
BY DR. J. MORGAN. 

TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 

THE grinding of the sun-flower seeds, and express- 
ing of oil from the same, is a manufacture, which, as 
far as can be yet learned, was first begun among the 
Moravian brethren at Bethlehem, and reflects honour 
upon them, whilst it affords the publick a new substance 
very beneficial in a variety of purposes, but more 
especially, as it may serve for a sallad oil, and for other 
uses of diet and medicine, in the place of olive oil. 

From experiments already made at Bethlehem, it is 
found that a bushel of the sun-flower seed will yield, 
on expression, near a gallon of mild oil. The gentle- 
man, who is appointed by the community there to su- 
perintend their mills, designs, as we are informed, to 
pursue a further course of experiments on this subject, 
the result of which, we hope, will be communicated to 
this society. 

Our correspondent at Lancaster informs the society, 
that some persons in the neighbourhood of that place, 
have also expressed a quantity of oil from the seeds of 
the sun-flower. His account is as follows. 

" The person, who has raised the greatest quantity 
of the sun-flowers with us, informs me, that one hun- 
dred plants, set about three feet distance from each 
other, in the same manner Indian corn is commonly 
planted will produce one bushel of seed, without any 
other trouble, than that of putting the seed into the 



344 OIL FROM SUK-FLOWER 6EE&. 

ground, from which he thinks one gallon of oil may be 
made. I observed the land, on which he planted the 
5un-flowers, to be of the middling sort, and that he 
took no pains to hill ihem, or even to loosen the 
ground about them, which from my own observation 
on some planted in a neighbour's garden, I take to be 
of considerable use. 

'*■ As the sun-flower is a plant of great increase, and 
requires much nourishment, hilling does not seem so 
good a method as that of setting the seed or plant in 
a hole, and when the plant is about a yard high, to 
throw in the mould round the stalk, so that the surface 
of the ground may be even about it. By an estimate 
made it appears, thai one acre of^'land will yield to the 
planter between forty and fifty bushels of seed, which 
will produce as many gallons of oil. The process for 
making or extracting the oil is the same as that of 
making linseed oil, which I make no doubt the Society 
is acquainted with, and therefore shall not trouble you 
with it." 

The success attending the trials already made, give 
the greatest encouragement to prosecute this useful dis-» 
covery. And as the seeds of the sun-flower are at this 
time nearly ripe, and in a proper state for extracting the 
oil from them, it may be of service to lay these facts 
before the publick. Such as may have an inclination to 
make trials on this subject, and are not at present fur- 
nished with a sufiicient quantit)' of seed for pressing out 
an oil, may now supply themselves with enough to 
plant for making experiments the ensuing year. 

For the information of those who have both oppor- 
tunity and inclination to extend the inquiry, and render 
this a valuable branch of business, but are not acquainted 
with the general principles upon which oil is obtained, 
by expression from, vegetable substances, it may be pro- 
per to observe that the kernels of fruits, such as wal- 
nuts, hickory nuts, filberts, almonds, peaches, &c. and 
the seeds of many plants, as mustard, rape, poppy, flax, 
sun-flower, &c. contain a large portion of mild oiL In 
order to obtain the oil, the kernels or seeds are com- 
monlv rubbed to powder, or ground in mills. They 
are then put into a strong bag, made of canvas or 
woollen cloth, and committed to a press between iron 
plates, by which the oil is squeezed out, and is received 
or conducted into a proper vessel to collect it. The 
plates of the press are often heated, either in boiling 



OIL TROM SUN-FLOWER SEEP. 2f4S 

water or before the fire. Many heat the mash itseli 
in a large iron pot, stirring it about with a stick or 
piece of wood, to prevent its burning, which, when it 
happens, greatly injures the oil, and gives it a burnt 
smell and taste, or disposes it to become rancid jjfi a 
short time. When the oil is drawn without the assistance 
of heat, it is known by the name of cold drawn oil, and 
is more valuable, than when heat is used, but it is not 
obtained in the same quantity. It is milder, and may 
be kept longer without spoiling. 

In a cold season of the year, a certain degree of heat 
is absolutely necessary. But if the oil is designed for 
aliment or medicine, the plates of the press should be 
heated in boiling water only. When the oil is intended 
for other uses, the plates may be made hotter, as heat 
expedites the separation of the oil, and gives a greater 
produce, but then care should be taken not to injure the 
subject by burning. 

Sometimes the subject, when ground, appears almost 
like a dry powder. It is then said to be meagre, and 
requires to be exposed to the vapours of boiling water, 
which is done either by tying it up in a bag. or putting 
it into a sieve, and placing it over the steam. By this 
impregnation, it will yield its oil more readily, and in 
greater quantity. The oil may be easily freed from any 
water that may happen to be pressed out with it, as a 
spontaneous separation between them will take place 
on standing for some time. 

For the encouragement of those who may choose to 
improve this subject, it may be proper to observe, that 
all the oils, from whatever vegetable substances they 
are drawn, when obtained by expression with due cau- 
tion, agree in their general qualities, and are constantly 
mild, even though they are obtained from very acrid 
substances. Thus the expressed oil of mustard seed is 
when fresh, as mild as that of olives, and the bitter 
almond, or peach kernel, affords an oil, by expression;, 
as mild as that of sweet almonds. It is upon this prin- 
ciple, that the sun-flower oil may prove equally valuable 
with the best Florence oil, for diet or medicine. For 
every expressed oil, when pure and fresh, is void of 
acrimony, and free from any particular taste or smell. 

Besides the mild oil just mentioned, some substances 
contain another kind of oil, called its essential oil, a part of 
which may be drawn off with the mild expressed oil, so 
called, and impart its smell or taste to that oil. It is 



246 OIL FROM SUN-FLOWER SEED. 

called essential oil, from its yielding the particular odour 
of the vegetable, or part of the plant, from which it 
was obtained ; it is pungent to the taste, and soluble in 
spirits of wine, which the other is not. They may, 
therefore, be easily distinguished from each other. 

The oil of sweet almonds, and the oil of olives, being 
pure unctuous expressed oils, not soluble in spirits of 
wine, but mild to the taste, and void of odour, very 
5oft, emollient and lenitive, are chiefly used in medicine 
and diet. And the reason why the oil of olives, in par- 
ticular, is preferred, is because it is less expensive, and 
will keep a much longer time without becoming rancid. 

Perhaps, on trial, the sun-flower seeds may be found 
to contain an oil that will answer the like good purposes 
with the sallad and medicinal oil now in use. If so, 
it will have this advantage over that of almonds or olives, 
that it is a native of the country, may be always had 
fresh, and at a small expense. Whereas the others 
are the produce of distant countries, bear a high price, 
and are often adulterated on that account ; or being 
kept a long time, they lose their mild quality, and be- 
come rancid and acrimonious. 

The practicableness of getting oil among ourselves 
at a moderate expense, and the importance of using 
i% fresh, together with the probable uses of sun-flower 
oil for varnishes, for the basis of ointments, and for 
mixing of paints, as well as other purposes to be an- 
swered by oils in general, claim our attention to this 
subject, and encourage further trials of the like kind. 

Before we quit this subject, it may not be amiss to 
mention, that castor oil is justly celebrated for its me- 
dicinal qualities. The plant, from the seeds of which 
it is got, may be easily cultivated in this country, and 
the increase of it is very great in a short time ; might 
it not then be worth the attention of our farmers to 
propagate this plant for the sake of its oil ? We would 
just suggest, that perhaps it might be worth while to try 
whether the seeds of sumach, with which this country 
abounds, or of the mullein, which grows in old fields, 
and bears a great quantity of seed, would not yield by 
expression, a valuable oil for medicine or other pur- 
poses. 



ON THE BENE SEED. » 247 



LETTER 

or MR. JOHN MORSL, TO MR. CHARLES THOMPSON, SECRE" 
TARY OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, AT PHI- 
LADELPHIA. 

Savannah^ May 5, 1769. 
Sir, 

I SEND you a small keg of Bene, or Bene Seed, 
which you will please to present to your Society for 
their inspection. This seed makes oil equal in quality 
to Florence, and some say preferable. Some say one 
hundred weight of seed will produce ninety pounds of 
oil, others say less, be that as it will, it certainly makes 
very fine oil, and produces amazingly. If it is put to 
the trial, care should be taken to have the press well 
cleaned, so as to leave no tincture from what may have 
been already pressed ; in my opinion, this is an article 
of consequence, and I believe it will gro\f in Philadel- 
phia, The way to sow it is in holes about three feet 
asunder, dropping in each hole about ten grains ; when 
it comes up, thin it to three or four of the most pro- 
mising, the seeds will appear in pods about September, 
and should, when full grown, and before dry, be gathered 
in. The method is as follows. As soon as you perceive 
about three-fourths or four-fifths of the pods rise on the 
stalk, and the lower pods begin to lose their seeds, it is 
then time to take it in ; for after that, as much as ripens 
one day a top, so. much falls out of the pod at bottom, 
you take a sharp hatchet bill, or some such weapon, 
and with it cut off the stock twelve to eighteen inches 
below any of the seed, holding the stock with the left 
hand, and when cut, a second person receives it, keep- 
ing it upright, till he has his load, for if you turn it 
downwards the ripe seed will fall out of the pods, 
you may immediately carry it into a barn, and set it up- 
right on a close floor till you perceive all the pods fully 
dry and open. (You may, if you choose, leave it m 
the field, which must be the case if a large quantity is 
planted) then thrash it, and run it through a proper 
sieve, and it is fit for use. 

I am quite unacquainted with the method of express- 
ing the oil, but I believe if it is designed for table use, 
nothing should be done to the seed, as it might give 



348 * NEW METHOD OT BLEACHING COTTOW. 

it an ill taste. The lighter and drier the soil is in which 
it is planted, the better. 

I am, dear sir, 

Your most humble servant, 
JOHN MOREL^ 



ACCOUNT 

OF A NEW METHOD OF BLEACHING COTTON. BT M. CHAPTAt* 

READ AT THE NATIOyAL INSTITITTE. 

THE success with which M. BerthoUet has applied 
the OX} genated muriatick acid to the bleaching of ve- 
getable substances, seems to have brought that art 
very nearly to perfection ; but this method is not equally- 
advantageous throughout all its branches ; besides which 
its execution requires very experienced workmen, that 
the articles may not be injured bv using lies in an im- 
proper manner. We should not, therefore, neglect to 
make known, and to improve, all the other methods, 
in order that the manufacturer may choose that which 
appears to him the most advantageous. For these rea- 
sons, I shall now describe a process for bleaching cot- 
ton thread, which is equally simple and economical. 

Fifteen or sixteen inches above the iron bars of a 
common fire-place, is to be fixed a copper cauldron, 
of a round shape ; its depth should be nineteen or 
twenty inches. The edges of the cauldron, which 
should be seven or eight inches wide, are to be turned 
back, so as to rest upon the brick work. The remain- 
ing part of the furnace is to be of stone, built up to 
the height of six or seven feet ; the width within being 
about five feet six inches. It should be contracted to- 
\v|fds the top, so as to leave a round opening, of nine- 
teen or twenty inches diameter. This opening is to be 
occasionally closed by a heavy stone, or by a copper 
cover fitted to it. On the edge of the copper cauldron 
which may be considered as the bottom of this kind 
of Papin's digester, is to be placed a grating, formed 
of bars of v/ood, very near each other, that the cotton 
laid upon them may not pass through them, and sufli- 



NEW METHOD OF BLEACHING COTTON. 249 

ciently strong to bear the weight of between seven and 
eight hundred pounds of cotton. 

The cauldron being finished in the manner above de- 
scribed, the cotton, in hanks, is to be impregnated 
with a weak solution of barilla, rendered caustick by 
quick-lime. This operation is to be performed in a 
wooden or stone trough, in which the cotton should 
be trod by the feet, covered with wooden shoes. When 
the cotton is thoroughly and equally penetrated by the 
alkaline lie, it is to be carried to the cauldron, and 
placed upon the wooden grating already spoken of. The 
superfluous liquor runs through the bars of the grating 
into the cauldron, and there forms a stratum of liquor, 
which permits the whole to be heated, without fear of 
burning either the cotton Or the metal. 

To make the alkaline lie, a quantity of Alicant ba- 
rilla, equal to one-tenth of the weight of the cotton in- 
tended to be operated upon, is to be employed : in a 
cauldron of the dimensions above described, about eight 
hundred pounds of cotton may be operated upon at 
one time* The lie made use of, is generally of one 
degree of strength. As soon as the cotton is introduced, 
and properly placed in the cauldron, the opening at top 
must be closed with its cover ; which should fit in such 
a manner as scarcely to leave any vent for the vapours, 
that they may, when disengaged by the fire, acquire a 
great degree of heat, and thereby act powerfully upon 
the cotton. 

Every thing being prepared as is here directed, the 
fire may be made in the fire-place ;* and the lie must 
be kept gently boiling for twenty or thirty hours. The 
whole may be then suffered to grow cool ; the cover 
may be taken off ; the cotton taken out, and exposed in. 
the field for two or three days, supporting it upon bars 
tduring the day, and letting it lie upon the grass during 
the night. The cotton will be found to have acquired 
a beautiful whiteness ; and if, by chance, any of the 
hanks should appear still to retain any colour, they^ 
may be put again into the cauldron, and be once more 



* In the construction of this furnace, I have supposed that it was 
intended for burning sea or pit coal. If wood is to be burnt in it; 
the dimensions must be varied accordingly. In the latter case also, 
the iron bars would be useless, and the bottom of the furnace would 
be too high above the ground. 



250 SEW IltETHOD or BLEACHING COTTON. 

exposed to the effect of the lie ; or they may be left a 
few days longer in the field. These shades in the 
bleached cotton happen from its not having been, in the 
first operation, completely and equally impregnated with 
the alkaline lie ; or they may arise from the cotton 
having been heaped together too closely, in some parts, 
when put into the cauldron. 

When, during the operation, there is reason to sup- 
pose that the whole of the lie is exhausted by the 
ebullition, the cover of the cauldron must be taken off, 
and the cotton, now become dry, must be sprinkled with 
a fresh quantity of alkaline lie j otherwise it would 
be in danger of being burnt. 

It is easy to judge, by computing the value of the 
substances, and the time employed in the above opera- 
tion, how very economical this method is, even if we 
had not a more simple and sure way of determining it, 
namely, the low price at which cotton is bleached in 
all the manufactories in which this process is employed. 
In the south of France, where it is pretty generally 
practised, cotton is bleached at the rate of about a 
shilling for nearly one hundred. 

This process was brought to us from the Levant, 
some time after the introduction of the Adrianople or 
Turkey red die. It has been long made use of there, 
though kept secret from us till this time, and is there 
called bleaching by means of vapour, 

I do not know that this method has yet been applied 
to the bleaching of linen or hempen thread ; but it cer- 
tainly would be very well worth to try it upon those 
substances. It would indeed be necessary to make use 
of stronger leys, and to continue the boiling for a longer 
time than with cotton ; and I recommend it to manu- 
facturers, to try this process, both with a view of ren- 
dering it more general, and of bringing it to greatef 
perfection. 



•N PREPARING RADICAL VINEGAR, 251 

NEW METHOD 

OF PREPARING RADICAL VINEGAR, 
FROM THE ANNALES' DES ARTS ET MANUFACTURES. 

WE have lately received some directions for the 
making of vinegar denominated radical vinegar ; as 
they present some new facts and methods of prepara- 
tion that deserve to be known, we shall give them as 
we receive them from our correspondent. 

The experiments that taught me, three years ago, 
the real distinction between the acetic and acetous na- 
ture of acids, ought not, I think, to be lost to the arts. 
I gave an account, in part, of their results, in a memoir 
inserted in the number of the Journal de Physique for 
Vendemaire, in the year 8, but ftew experiments, made 
in the laboratory of the unfortunate Moscati^ perfected 
my former observations, and I now offer to your jour- 
nal two processes for making, in a more economical and 
safer manner, the liquid known at the toilette and in 
apothecaries' shops by the appellation of radical vine^ 
gar. 

It has always been usual to extract it by gradual dis- 
tillation from chrystals of copper, in earthen vessels, in 
a reverberatory furnace. This violent heat, giving to 
the fluid an extraordinary expansion, frequently caused 
disagreeable accidents ; it even destroyed great part of 
it, which occasioned the great quantity of carbonick 
acid, that chymists had always noticed, without being 
able to explain how it was formed ; the part saved was 
always intermixed with particles of copper, which were 
the more difficult to extract from it as that metal has 
a great affinity with the acetick acid. The new chymis- 
try did not correct this process because it had long con- 
sidered as essential to the formation of the acid what 
in fact is only an inconvenience arising from the defect 
of manipulation. 

My first process, which consists simply in pouring 
one part of concentrated sulphurick acid to one of ace- 
tite of copper, and distilling it on a sand-bath, remedies 
every inconvenience, and prevents all danger attendant 
on manipulation. This was the process I published in 
the Journal des Pbarmaciens, of which Citizen Four- 



252 ON PREPARING RADICAL VINEGAR. 

croy was then the editor : it appeared of sufficient con- 
sequence to be inserted in the Manuel du Chemiste. 

It was in Italy that I conceived the idea of the second, 
during the severe winter of the year 7. I, at that time, 
made many experiments on the action of cold on vegeta* 
ble acids ; and comparing this action on the acetous acid 
with that of the sulphurick acid, I observed that both 
of them acted in the same manner, with respect to this 
liquid. I discovered, by means of this extraordinary 
similarity, that the reverberatory furnace produced ra- 
dical vinegar, and that extreme cold produced it like- 
wise. Many explanations resulted from this piece of 
discovery, and I shall probably soon be able to bring 
to light an infinite number of others not to be found 
either in the Journal de Physique, or any where else. 

I confine myself to what is merely practical. I take 
a kilogramme of white vinegar concentrated by the frost, 
I pour to it half a kilogramme of concentrated sulphu- 
rick acid, and distil the mixture in a sand-bath, till the 
vapours of the sulphureous acid begin to appear. I 
obtain a light and strongly scented liquid ; but I con- 
fess this liquid requires distilling a second time before 
it is the radical vinegar. 

This process, it is obvious, is simple, and the resi- 
duum exposed to a sudden heat may serve a second 
and a third time ; and by increasing the quantit}^ of sul- 
phurick acid one half, the vinegar need not be exposed 
to the frost. It is true, the second distillation will 
greatly augment the expense. Artists will ascertain 
whether this expense be as heavy as that incurred by 
the ordinary process, wherein acetite of copper is used : 
I think not. It is at least certain, that my acetick acid 
may be used without those apprehensions caused by that 
now sold. Let females, who only use it as a luxury, 
reflect, that when respiring its odour, they introduce, 
into their lungs more or less copper, one of the most 
powerful poisons, and they will be the first to discoun- 
tenance the former process, in order to introduce those 
which I propose. 

As the produce from both is not liable to any kind of 
suspicion, the onlv point is to calculate which of them, 
being attended with the least expense, deserves the 
preference. This calculation i leave to the artists who 
read your journal, to which I consign them. 



ON PROCURING GOOD WATER FROM WELLS. 253 

METHOD 

OF PROCURING GOOD WATER FROM WELLS. 

FROM THE DECADE PHILOSOPHiq.UE, &C. 

IF vou wish the water of a well to be clear, and 
free from any disagreeable taste, the excavation should 
be made considerably larger than is usually done. 

11, for example, you wish to cpnstruct a well five 
feet in diameter, the excavation ought to be from 
twelve to fifteen feet. A false well is made ten or 
twelve feet in diameter ; in the middle of this large 
well the real well is constructed with a diameter of about 
five feet, but in such a manner that the water may filter 
through the interstices left between the stones, which 
form the outside of the inner well : the false well is 
then filled with sand and pebbles, so that the water must 
first filter through them before it reaches the real well. 
By this method you are sure of having filtered vater 
perfectly clear and fit to drink. 

This operation is rather expensive it is true ; but the 
expense is amply compensated by the advantage of 
having limpid and wholesome water. 



SUBSTANCE 

i 

OF THE SPECIFICATION OF A PATENT GRANTED TO MR. AR-> 
NOLD WILDE, AND MR. JOSEPH RIDGE, OF GREAT BRITAIN 
FOR MAKING AND MANUFACTURING DIFFERENT KINDS OF 
SAWS, &C. 

THIS invention is described as follows : 
" Our said invention of making and manufacturing all 
kinds of saws, steel doctors for printers, plates made 
of iron, also of steel, beads, mouldings, and fender 
plates made of iron and steel united, or of iron or 
steel, and all sorts of springs made of steel, and divers 
others articles made of iron and steel united, and also 
of iron or steel, is particularly described and ascertained 
in manner following ; that is to say : When the steel or 



254 PATENT FOR MAKING SAWS, &C. 

iron is pared or cut into proper shape, the saws, doctors 
for printers, plates of iron or steel, beads, mouldings, 
and fender plates, whether made of iron and steel united 
or of iron or steel, and all sorts of springs made of 
steel, and divers other articles made of iron and steel 
united, and also of iron or steel, are put into a frame 
©f mstal, or otherwise : they may then be made red-hot 
in the said frame, and stretched by screw, spring, weight, 
or any other proper power or purchase, and so formed 
into a curved, straight, or any other direction wanted. 
They are then to be immersed in water, or a compo- 
sition of oils or grease, to be hardened in the frame 
in the direction wanted ; and when so hardened they 
are also to be tempered in the same direction in the 
frame over fire : and when the savr, doctor for printers, 
or plate, is over the fire, it must be kept in motion over 
the fire until the oil or grease upon the said saw. doc- 
tor, or plate, smokes. It is then to be gently stretched, 
and continually kept moving over the fire until a blue 
blaze alternately appears and disappears. It is then to 
be s:retched with as much power as will bring it into 
the direction required. The saw, doctor, or plate, is 
next to be put into another frame, which may be made 
to move upwards and downwards, or in any other direc- 
tion necessary, by crank, or any other movement, be- 
tween proper stones, or between plates of metal, blocks 
of wood, or any other material that will grind or polish 
with sand, emery, or other proper material to grind 
and polish the saws, steel doctors for printers, plates 
snade of iron, also of steel, beads, mouldings, and fen- 
der plates, made of iron and steel united, or of iron or 
steel, and all sorts of springs made of steel, and divers 
other articles made of iron and steel united, and also 
of iron or steel. But if the saw, doctor, or plate, is 
not intended to be hardened, it must be made red hot, 
and stretched with as much power as will bring it into 
the direction wanted ; it must then lie in the open air, 
in the frame, in the said direction required, till cold : 
then to be ground by a machine for the purpose of 
grinding and polishing in a frame the said saws, steel 
doctors for printers, plates made of iron, also of steel, 
beads, mouldings, and fender plates, made of iron and 
ateel united, or of iron or steel, and all sorts of springs 
made of steel, and divers other articles made of iron 
and steel united, and also of said savr, doctor, or plate, 
By means of a crank, or otherwise, as before expressed j 



PREPARATION OF INDELIBLE INK. 25%'^ 

and whi^ motion will pare, tooth, smith, finish, set the 
teeth of saws, sharpen, grind, and polish, plates made 
of iron or steel, or of iron and steel united, and form 
beads and mouldings, and various other articles* In 
witness whereof, &c. 



METHODS 

OF PREPARING A SPECIES OF WRITING INK, INDELIBLE EVEN 
BY THE ACTION OF THE OXYGENATED MURIATICK ACID ; 
COMMUNICATED IN A LETTER FROM M. SCHERER TO MR. 
VAN MONS. 

FROM THE ANNALES DE CHEMIE. 

As common writing ink is susceptible of being ef- 
faced by ox}'genated muriatick acid ; and as the know- 
ledge of this fact may be abused to very fraudulent 
purposes ; ch) mists have judged it an object of impor- 
tance to try, whether a writing ink might not be pre- 
pared, which should entirely resist the action of that 
acid. Pitet, with this viev/, added to the ink commonly 
in use, a portion of indigo. But this addition is of no 
service if the ink be not carefully shaken every time it 
is employed. Westrumb recommends the following 
composition of ink, as absolutely indestructible. Boil 
one ounce of fernambuca, and three ounces of nut galls, 
in forty-six ounces of water, till they shall be reduced 
thirty-two ounces in all. Pour this decoction, while it 
is yet hot, upon half an ounce of sulphate of iron, or 
martial vitriol, one quarter of an ounce of gum arabick, 
and one quarter of an ounce of white sugar. After 
these substances are dissolved, add to the solution one 
ounce and a quarter of indigo, finely pulverized, with 
three quarters of an ounce of lampblack, very pure, or 
of smoke black, previously diluted in one ounce of the 
best brandy. M. Bosse gives a receipt, which is still 
more simple. He directs to boil one ounce of fernam- 
buca with twelve ounces of water, and half an ounce 
of alum ; to continue the ebullition till the liquid mixture 
shall have been reduced to eight ounces j then to 
add an ounce of oxyde of manganese, which you have 
reduced by decantation to extreme fineness, and, in 
mixture with it, half an ounce of gum arabick. 



2^6 ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF MALT KILNS. 



MR. JAMES BARRETT'S PATENT 

TOR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MALT CILNS* 

DATED JANUARY, 1805. 

THE improvements in malt-kilns, for which this 
patent was obcaincfd, consist principally of four separate 
articles, the first of which relates to means of regulating 
the fire to anv required degree, of admitting heated air 
to the malt, and of preventing the absorption of heat by 
the walls of the kiln ; which are all judicious applications 
of the inventions oF count R .imford, for the general im- 
provement of fire places, to the particular exigencies of 
malt kilns, as 3Ir. Barrett candidlv acknowledges. 

The second consists of a contrivance for closing the 
superiour aperture of the kiln to any required degree. 

The third is a moveable furnace running on wheels, 
which may be set in a kiln for drving either pale or 
brown malt, but is mentioned as principally intended for 
the former. 

The fourth is a contrivance for admitting the use of 
common pit coal, in drying malt, mentioned b}- Mr. Bar- 
rett as chieflly applicable to the moveable furnace ; but 
which could, no doubt, be equally well used with a fixed 
furnace. 

The fire is regulated in Mr. Barrett's kiln by dampers, 
which close the passages which admit air to the fire as 
required, and these are so connected by chains and pul- 
lies with the regulator of the opening for admitting fuel 
(through which the air can pass to the malt without go- 
ing through the fire) that the closing of one occasions a 
proportional opening of the ocher ; a plate of iron lies di- 
rectlv over the fire, at a considerable distance above it, 
and admitting a free passage round it on every side, 
whose office is to prevent the heat from striking intensely 
in one spot, and to distribute it rnore equally under the 
whole wire, hair-cloth or tiles, for sustaining the malt, 
which last are recommended to be supported by a frame 
made of narrow iron bars, crossing so as to form small 
squares, or to be what Mr. Barrett calls an iron hurdle, 
which, he says, has particular advantages lor drying 
brown malt. 

A number of small apertures, communicating with air 
tubes which circulate round the neck of the kiln, are 
mad€ both above and below the drying frame ; dampers 



ON THE CONSTRtrCTION OF MALT KILNS. 2Sf 

are fixed in the air tubes in such a manner that the air, 
heated by passing round the neck of the kiln, can be 
made either to pass out above or below the malt at plea- 
sure : this contrivance, Mr. Barrett says, effectually car- 
ries off the great quantity of steam which is generated in 
drying the malt ; and is particularly serviceable in the 
process of drying pale malt : the extremities of the above 
passages are closed with iron lattice to hinder vermin 
from entering. 

To prevent the absorption of heat, the walls of the 
kiln are built hollow, or with hollow passages in them, 
at every side ; the floor of the ash-pit, and the whole 
area on which the kiln stands, is laid on arches for 
the same purpose. 

The regulator for closing the upper part of the kilu 
consists of four sheet iron quadrants, which turning on 
pivots in the line of the middle radius of each, in such 
manner that when in a horizontal position they form a 
completely close disk, which stops the whole of the aper- 
ture, and when in a vertical position they leave it entirely 
open ; in all intermediate positions, they leave a passage 
for the heated air to pass out proportionate to their de- 
gree of inclination, and, when so placed, resemble much 
the fliers of a smoke-jack ; a wire passes from each 
quadrant a little way down and hooks to another wire or 
chain, common to all four, which passes down to the 
front of the fire-place, and by pulling which the workmen 
can close the upper aperture to any degree he chooses ; 
it may be easily conceived how, on letting go the wire, 
the quadrants could be contrived to open, by having 
weights so fixed to them, as to make them preponderate 
at one side of their centres of motion. 

This regulator will at once extinguish all accidental 
fires in the kiln ; will economize heat in preventing the. 
access of cold air downwards on the malt when the drv* 
ing first commences (which will be particularly useful in 
drying pale malt) and, by being closed when the kiln is 
not in use, will protect the kiln-w ire, or hair cloth, from 
damage by the weather, or soil from birds. 

The moveable furnace is of an oblong shape, and is 
constructed with a fire-chamber, and ash-pit, with doors 
and registers in the same manner as a chymical furnace ; 
there is a damper annexed to it, so contrived that, by 
moving it to a certain degiee,a new passage is opened 
for the fire into the iron flue next to be described, and 
the direct passage to the malt closed* 

l1 



258 ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF MALT KILNS* 

The use of this iron flue (which forms the fourth priR- 
cipal contrivance) is to permit the burning of common 
coal for heating the kiln, when culm or coke cannot easily 
be had. It consists of a flue of cast-iron, through which 
the smoke passes into a chimney, around which another 
tube is made to pass spirally, one extremity of which 
communicates with the space beneath the frame for sus- 
taining the malt, and the other is connected with pipes 
passing through the body of the fire (or where they will 
receive considerable heat from it) to the external air. 
By this means the air is heated so, in circulating round 
the iron flue, as to dry the malt effectual!} , and at the 
same time be totally separated from the smoke. 

Mr. Barrett recommends the use of iron in the forma- 
tion of the cowl, of the internal doors, and of the window 
frames, as being not liable to warp or shrink, and free 
from danger of burning. 

Besides these contrivances, Mr. Barrett mentions 
two doors of iron or earthen ware, moveable at pleasure, 
placed at each side at the further end of the neck of the 
kiln, to equalize the flame arising from wood, in drying 
brown malt, which seems to be particularly useful, as 
Mr. Barrett says this object cannot be obtained by any 
skill or labour of the workmen, in kilns of the old con- 
struction, but of which he has unfortunately given no 
accurate description either as to their size, position, or 
management. 

OBSERVATIONS BY THE EDITORS OF THE RETROSPECT 
OF DISCOVERIES. 

This kiln of Mr. Barrett's seems to be one of the 
most complete yet constructed, and to possess every re- 
quisite for regulating the fire, preventing accidents, di- 
recting the draught through the kiln to any required de- 
gree, economizing the fuel, and admitting of a greater 
variety of it, facilitating the management of the kilti, 
and rendering this business safe and free from distress to 
the workmao. Mr. Barrett mentions the moveable fire 
place, as if it possessed peculiar advantages, but, as he 
has not described what these are, we must only rely on 
his opinion in this particular; as there is'no very obvi- 
ous reason why it should be better than a fixed fire place. 

Mr. Barrett has had the candour to acknowledge the 
assistance received from the inventions and publications 
of count Rumford; in the construction ©f his kiln ; but 



BISTILLATION O^ ARDENT SPIRITS. 259 

this does in no wise diminish his merit in the judicious 
application of them to the purposes desired ; for it of- 
tentimes requires no less ingenuity to direct a former 
invention to suit a new purpose, than originally to 
plan it. 



ON THE DISTILLATION 



OF ARDENT SPIRITS ; AND THE PREPARATION OF YEAST. BT 
BARON VON MESTMACHER. 



FROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE ECONOMICAL SOCIETY OF PE- 

TER6BURGH. 

1. THE vessel in which the grain is to be infused 
should be rather broad than deep ; and it ought to be 
covered with a lid, fitted to it so closely as to prevent 
the escape of any vapour from within. 

2. Before patting in the grain, let this vessel or mash 
tun be carefully washed with boiling water. Scrub, at 
the same time, both its bottom and sides, with a stunted 
besom. 

3. Then turn the vessel upside down ; place it, with 
the brim, at one side, about half a foot from the ground ; 
make under it afire of straw, or rather of dried juniper 
twigs, and let this blaze up, into the reverted vessel, 
for about the space of a minute ; then scour the vessel 
twice with hot water, and put it in its place. 

4. To procure to the quantity of a hogshead of spi- 
rits, by one process, take a copper boiler, sufficient to 
hold four times this quantity of water, and bring to boil 
in it as much as shall be requisite for the infusion of 
your grain. 

You must, at the same time, have in readiness a due 
quantity of grain, ground to considerable fineness. Next 
pour into the mash tun about a hogshead of boiling 
water. Add your ground corn. After this has been 
thoroughly agitated in the mash tun, pour upon it a 
bucket more of water. Let four men, with shovels, 
of the form of oars, now stir the grain about in the 
mash tun, till not a particle of it be* left unmoistened. 
In order to ascertain whether this be so, examine the 



260 DISTILLATION OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 

mixture with your hand, after it shall appear to have 
been sufficiently agitated with the shovels. 

5. Next, pour in another tun of boiling water. You 
must have reserved a few pounds of }Our meal, for a 
subsequent part of the process. Mix the rest, as 
quickly as possible, with the water, by means of your 
shovels. Pour more boiling water upon the mixture^ 
till the whole shall be reduced nearly to the consis- 
tency of water gruel. Then strew that which you re- 
served over the surface of the thin mixture in the mash 
tun, which will have the effect of preventing the un- 
necessary waste of the spirit by evaporation. All this 
pan of the process must be finished within half an hour 
at the utmost. If it be more slowly and negligently 
performed, there will be a considerable waste of spirit 
from the grain, in the evaporation of the boiling wa- 
ter. 

6. It is almost impossible, on account of the varying 
temperature of the atmosphere, and of the difference 
in the strength of the grain, as well as for other reason! 
to proportion the water, at all times, with minute exact- 
ness. But it will gene rally be best to use a large, ra- 
ther than a scanty proportion of fluid. Great care is, 
at the same time, requisite, to prevent the mixture from 
settling on the bottom of the vessel, and being reduced 
into a burnt state, in which it shall be unfit to afford 
spirits of the desired purity. If the mixture be too 
thick, or if the material be buckwheat ; such an acci- 
dent will be very apt to take place. It is better to 
employ equal parts of buckwheat and oats, than to use 
the former grain alone. 

7. After the mixture has been, in this manner, duly 
prepared, the mash tun must be closely covered with 
its lid ; and the whole must be left to stand undisturbed 
for the space of at least seven hours. At the end of that 
time, the formation of the spirit will be found regularly 
to commence. If it be then neglected, the spirit will 
wastefully evaporate, and the remaining liquid will 
quickly begin to putrefy. This last event will take 
place so much the sooner, if the mash tun, as may too 
often happen, have not been properly scoured before 
the commencement of the process. 

8. At the end of seven hours, remove the lid of the 
mash tun a little to one side, and observe carefully whe- 
ther a peculiar acidulous vapour, distinguishable by the 
smell, do not arise from the liquor thus uncovered. 



DISTILLATION OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 251 

This vapour, however, does not begin to ascend till 
bubbles cease to appear on the surface of the liquor. 
Great attention and experience are necessary to enable 
one to seize the exact moment when the fluid is brought 
to this state. It is better, however, to anticipate that 
moment, than to suffer it to pass unnoticed. Two- 
thirds of the spirit are often lost by neglect of this sort, 
beiore the operator is aware that it has begun to be 
formed. 

7. Next, add to the liquor ten pints of yeast. Agi- 
tate it with the shovel or ladle, ibr the space of a 
minute. Then cover it, as before, with the lid. Yet, 
leave somewhere a small opening; carefully stopping it 
with a bit of rag, or any other fit substance, to exclude 
th'. external air. In this condition leave the whole 
standing, for the space of 72 hours ; or, if the weather 
be very cold, even ibr 84 or 98 hours. After it has 
stood, however, for 72 hours, you may uncover it, and 
obs( rve, whether there be not a heaving motion of the, 
whole mass, with a thick yellow scum spread over the 
surlace. The most profit is to be expected, when you 
can seize the exact moment of the highest fermentation 
of the whole mixture. It is always better to anticipate 
this moment, than to delay till after it has passed. 

10. We proceed next to the distillation. For this 
purpose, the fermenting liquid is :o be drawn off into 
a siill, or any vessel with a high covered head, and 
connected by a suitabl}- incurvated pipe, with a receiving 
vessel which may stand beside it. 

11. But, it will be proper, first, to describe the fire- 
place over which the still is to be fixed. The distilla- 
tory copper ought to stand at the height of about one 
and a half feet from the ground, in such a position, that 
the fire may not only heat its bottom, but diffuse the 
f^ame around it, so as to rise upon its side. A foot 
below the top of the vessel, there should be, on each 
side, an opening in the brick work, either round or 
square, for the convenience of regulating the fire within. 
In the fire place, or stove, there ought to be kept up a 
strong fire of dry wood, till such time as the liquor in 
the still shall be brought to ebullition. While this is 
going on, a person with a ladle, or shovel, sufficiently 
sharp at the edges, should carefully raise the matter 
from the bottom, so that it may not settle there, and 
become singed or burnt. 



262 DISTILLATION OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 

It is much more advantageous when there is a copper 
lid for the still or hoiler, having, in the middle, a round 
orifice, half a foot in diameter, which may receive the 
handle of the instrument that is used to stir the fluid 
within. This prevents any loss by evaporation at the 
time when the necessary agitation of the liquor is per- 
formed. When the ebullition has once commenced ; 
the force of the heat elevates both the thicker parts of 
the mass, and those which are more fluid; and there 
is no longer danger of their subsiding and being scorched 
upon the bottom. 

12. As soon as the fermented liquor begins to boil, 
let the capital or head of the distilling vessel be put on. 
Lute it with dough, or paste, to the vesseJ which it 
covers. Fill up the fire place beneath with logs of wood 
not too dry. Then shut up the inferiour access to the 
fire, either with the iron doors, or, in want of these, 
with brick and lime. With a stove once, in this manner 
filled with wood, you may, without any second supply 
of fuel distill to the quantity of twenty-eight hogsheads 
of the wash ; for, after the distillation has commenced, 
it is not a very intense heat that is required ; and the 
fire can always be kept alive by means of the side holes 
which were before mentioned. To diminish the heat, 
and stop the progress of the distillation when this is 
too rapid ; nothing more is necessary than to stop up 
the holes in the sides. On the other hand, when the 
heat is too languid, it may be excited to sufficient brisk- 
ness, by opening the side holes more freely to the 
access of air. 

1 3. The spirit must be nov/ suffered to pass off in a state 
of as great strength as possible. Great care is requisite 
to prevent a waste of the spirit by evaporation. To 
avoid this waste, the liquor of the first distillation, or 
loxv zvi?ies^ is not urged to any degree of purity. From 
three to three and a half hogsheads of this liquor are 
taken, to afford one hogshead of the raw spirit, 

14. This raw spirit is next to be put into a smaller 
copper, such as may hold not more than three and a 
half or four hogsheads. If the size of this vessel be 
larger, it will occasion an inconvenient waste of the 
spirits. 

15. The second distillation is to be conducted like the 
former, in all respects, save that it is not now necessary 
to agitate the liquor in the still. The head of this still 
too, should be covered Vv^ith tin, that it may not he cor» 



DISTILLATION OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 265 

roded in the progress of the distillation. The phlegm 
which remains alter all the spirit has passed, should be 
carefully reserved for use in the preparation of the next 
wash. Thus are obtained, from one hundred weight of 
rye, about ten gallons of raw spirit : from one hundred 
weight of malt, about six gallons of the spirit j* and, 
from the same quantity of buckwheat, seven gallons and 
three quarters. 

Rye is not susceptible of complete distillation by it- 
self. The wash in which it is used should be made 
with half rye, half malt. A mixture of four hundred 
weight of rye, three hundred weight malted barley, and 
one hundred weight of buckwheat, will yield sixty-five 
gallons of strong spirit. 

I have tried to distil spirits from unmalted barley, 
but cannot say I found it profitable. Oats may be used 
when there is a want of malt, to forward the distillation 
of rye or buckwheat. 

16. Barley may be malted for distillation, nearly in 
the common way in which malt is prepared for the 
brewers. Only, the process should, for the distiller's 
purpose, be concluded sooner ; and the germination 
should not be suffered to proceed sO far as in malt that 
is to be used in making beer. 

17. The distillatory vessel ought to hold not less than 
14 hogsheads ; and it should be fitted v/ith two worms 
and two sets of receiving vessels. But, as this appa- 
ratus might be often too expensive ; a still of seven 
hogsheads, with a single worm, and only one set of 
receiving vessels, may be employed in common. You 
can now divide your wash into two portions. One of 
these may be made to pass through the still in the space 
of five hours. The second portion may be then put 
in ; and its distillation will be easily finished within an 
equal time. The still for the re-distillation of the 
loxo wmeSy or liquor o^ the first distillation, should be 
of a capacity to hold four hogsheads ; and should be 
put up in the same manner as the other. With these 
two stills, may be easily made a hogshead of spirits 
daily, without its being necessary for the distiller to 
work by night. The whole process of preparing the 



* It has been found, also, by tl.e Scottish (iistille;i*s, that new eraij(} 
yiehls a larger proportion of spirit than malt does. 



264 DISTILLATION OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 

wash, and conducting it through the different steps of 
the distillation, may be accomplished in fourteen hours, 

18. In order, however, thus to prepare daily a hogs- 
head of spirits, you must have four mash tuns. Each 
of these must be large enough to hold fourteen hogs- 
heads of water, with a vacancy of half a foot between 
the upper surface of the water and the lid that covers 
the vessel ; a vacancy necessary to afford room for 
the heaving of the wort while it is in fermentation. It 
is needless to be anxiously exact in proportioning the 
water for the warm mash : for a hogshead more or 
less will make no difference. But, in the subsequent 
part of the process, greater exactness as to quantity 
becomes necessary ; and you should then have neither 
more nor less than fourteen hogsheads. 

19. If the quantity of water employed in the prepa- 
ration of the wash be too considerable, which is to be 
discerned by any extraordinary slowness in the cool- 
ing of that liquor ; then, let the cooling be artificially 
hastened by putting in a small piece of ice, or by 
any other convenient means. It should be cooled 
down somewhat lower than a blood-heat, and nearly to 
that of milk fresh from the cow in the summer 
months. 

20. But, to speak of the distillation of these spirits, 
rather as a chymical process than a vulgar art ; I know 
no better method of regulating the heat, in these cases 
than by the thermometer. This thermometer ought 
accurately to indicate the degrees of heat which expe- 
rience has proved to be the most suitable for the 
present purpose. By the insertion of the bulb in the 
cooling liquor, the mercury will be raised to show 
its exact heat : and the distiller, after a short experience 
in the use of this instrument, will become able to dis- 
tinguish the proper heat by sensation alone. The ut- 
most nicety as to this point is certainly at all times 
necessary. Any errour on either one side or the other, 
could not fail to occasion very serious inconvenience 
and loss. 

21. The vessel ought to have a copper lid with a hole 
in it, to receive the ladle with which you are to stir 
the liquid. That lid is to remain on the still, while the 
stirring is requisite , but ought to be removed; when 
the distillation is to commence, and the alembick or 
capital to be applied. 



DIStlLLATION OF AUDENT SPIRITS. 263 

22. Of the distillatory vessel it is to be remarkecj, 
that the lower and the wider this is made, so much 
the more profitable will its use be. When the still 
is wide and shallow, the distillation is necessarily more 
rapid and more complete. The capital should not be 
flat, but of a semi-gjobular form, that the spirit, as it 
rises, may not fall back into the body of the still, but 
may be detained on the sides of the capital, and con- 
ducted through the worm into the receiver. Round the 
inner part of the capital there should run an oblique 
enchasement for the very purpose of conveying the 
condensing drops into the worm. It is further neces- 
sary, that this capital be well tinned and polished: for 
the spirit acts strongly on copper ; and any unevenness 
of either the tin or the copper, would interrupt the 
course of the drops, and thus incommode the distilla-^ 
tion. 

23. Snow or rain water is undoubtedly the best for 
the use of the distiller : after that, river water. The 
water of brooks and springs is harder, and therefore 
less fit for our purpose. When, however, no other 
can be procured, this may be boiled with a handful of 
salt previously cast into it, and then employed in the 
preparation of the wash. 

24. There are great diversities in the strength of grain 
to afford spirits by distillation. If your grain have been 
damaged in the growth, if it have been heated in the 
barn or stack, if its germination have been suffered to 
advance too far in the malting; in any one of these 
cases, its value will be exceedingly diminished to the 
distiller. It is a great mistake, therefore, to suppose, 
that damaged or over malted grain, may be applied 
with peculiar advantage to this use. Tl^ere is at all 
times, and with the best grain, a very great loss of 
the spirit in the worting, and the distillation. 

25. The following is my method of preparing good 
Yeast. When your wort is made, and it seems nearly 
time to provide yeast for its fermentation, take out 
forty gallons of it into a separate vessel. Let this ves- 
sel have a lid to cover it, and let it be somewhat 
larger than is necessary to contain the exact forty gal- 
lons. Have in readiness a quantity of leaven : and of 
this take seven pounds ; which dilute with a little of 
the wort, in any convenient dish ; stirring it with a 
spoon or ladle, till the leaven shall be entirely dissolved* 
Pour this diluted leaven into your forty gallons of wort* 

M m 



566 ON SALTPETRE. 

Add seventeen pounds of rye meal, and an equal quan- 
tity of ground malt. Mix the whole, by agitation, for 
some minutes ; then leave it at rest for h^f an hour. 
At the end of this space, add a spoonful of the best 
yeast, and mix it thoroughly with the whole mass. 
Put the lid upon the vessel, to keep it close from the 
external air ; and let the whole remain undisturbed for 
forty-eight hours in a moderate temperature. At the 
end of this time, it will be found to be wholly con- 
verted into yeast. The quantity will be sixty gallons 
of the best yeast from your forty gallons of wort. 



FRENCH MOSE OF MAKING SALTPETRE. 

TAKEN FReM A TREATISE ON SALTPETRE. BY JAMES MAS- 
SET, £sq. 

MEMOIRS or THE MANCHESTER PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 

THE saltpetre makers at Paris chiefly make use 
of the rubbish of old houses, the ruins of old vaults 
and cellars, &c. this they reduce to a coarse powder, 
and, having screened it, proceed as follows. They 
provide a number of small open tubs, which they prefer 
to large ones, upon account of their being more easily 
moved and emptied of the materials. These they place 
upon stillages, about two feet high, and in such a man- 
ner, that one vessel may receive the lie that runs from 
two of them. In each tub, near the bottom, is fixed 
a spiggot and faucet ; and to prevent the wood-ashes 
from choaking the latter, a parcel of the round earth 
i^ thrown in first, and the ashes upon it. They then 
add the remainder of the earth, in the proportion of tw# 
bushels of the latter to one of the former. They throw 
the earth in lightly, that the water may more readily 
" pass through it, and they hollow it at top, that it may 
more conveniently receive it. They have different 
numbers of these tubs, but generally twenty-four, which 
they place in three rows, eight in each ; and into each 
tub they throw three bushels of wo©d ashes, and six 



eN SALTPETRE. 26T 

(if earth. Ten demiquieus^ of water, being passed 
through the first row of eight tubs, are poured upon 
the second, and afterwards upon the third; and now 
the first row of eight tubs, being emptied of the earth 
and ashes, is replenished with fresh materials, and 
the lie, which has passed through the rows of eight 
tubs, is passed through this likewise. Having thus 
passed through four rows of eight tubs, and been re- 
duced to two demiquieus by the absorption of the mate* 
rials, it is carried to the boiler under the n^me of le 
cuite. 

Such is the process when a new ^ork is erected ; in 
an old one, only s'lxdemiqideus of water are passed through 
the three rows of eight tubs, which are filled with fresh 
materials every day. The lixivium is carefully scummed 
during the boiling, and, when it is so far advanced that 
a pellicle begins to appear upon the surface, a workman 
is constantly employed, with a perforated ladle, to take 
out the marine salt, which now begins to form, and 
fall to the bottom of the boiler; this, being thrown 
into a wisket, drains into the boiler again. When the 
lixivium is so far evaporated that a drop of it will con- 
geal upon a piece of cold iron, it is taken out, and 
thrown into a tub, for the remainder of the marine salt, 
and other dregs, to settle ; and, after standing about 
half an hour, it is drawn off, whilst yet warm, into 
shallow copper pans, and set in a cool place for the salt- 
petre to crystallize. The produce of this operation is 
generally about one hundred and thirty pounds of a 
brown sort of saltpetre, which is sold to government 
for three pence halfpenny per pound, and carried to 
the arsenal to be refined. 

The liquor remaining in the basins, when the saltpe- 
tre is crystallized, is called eau mere^ or mother wa- 
ter, and is poured upon the earths in small quantities, 
when disposed in the tubs for lixiviation ; though some 
makers think it best to dilute it with water, and per- 
colate it through a fresh bed of wood ashes. The 
earths, when discharged from the tubs, are thrown 
aside under a hovel, and, when dry, are spread about a 
foot thick, to receive the scummings, eau mere, putrid 
urine, or any other putrid liquor they can get to throw 



* A demiquieu, as far as we can learn, contains about ninety g-al- 
lont. 



268 ON SALTPETRE. 

upon them, and in a few months, wc are told, are fit 
for use a second time ; particularly, if now and then 
turned over. To improve the colour of this saltpetre, 
and to cleanse it still more from the marine salt, two 
thousand weight is thrown into a large boiler, with one 
demiquieu of water, in which it dissolves, and, in the 
course of the boiling, another demiquieu is added by 
pailfuls, which every time it is thrown in, raises a 
thick scum that is carefully removed ; and now, the 
evaporation being pretty far advanced, and the marine 
salt taken out as before, a large pitcher of whites of 
eggs, or of a solution of isinglass, or of English glue 
is poured in, and well stirred up in it, which raises a 
thick black scum, and is taken off with it ; but, before 
the whites of eggs, &c. are thrown in, the boiling liquor 
is cooled, by adding a pailful of cold water. The lixi- 
vium being thus clarified, is treated as before. 
^ The eau mere of this operation, being boiled again, 
yields a saltpetre of the same colour with the first ; 
and some saltpetre goes through a third operation of 
the same kind, to give it a greater degree of purity. 
The basins, in which the lie is set for the saltpetre 
to crystallize, are closely fitted with wooden covers, 
to prevent the too free entrance of the air, which, 
by cooling the liquor too soon, would not admit the 
crystals to form of so large a size. The crystal- 
lization is generally completed in two or three days; 
and about one-fourth part is supposed to be lost in 
refining. 



IMPROVEMENT IN BREWING ALE, &C, 269 



SUBSTANCE 

OF THE SPECIFICATION OF A PATENT GRANTED TO MR. WIL- 
LIAM KER, FOR AN IMPROVEMENT IN BREWING ALE, BEER, 
PORTER, AND OTHER MALT LIQUORS, WHEREBY A GREAT 
SAVING IS MADE IN THE CONSUMPTION OF HOPS, &€. 

THE Steam which arises from the boiling copper, 
or any other vessel employed for the purpose, and 
which steam is strongly impregnated with the essential 
oil, in which the flavour of hops consists, instead of 
being allowed to escape and evaporate, as is done in 
the present mode of brewing, is preserved and con- 
densed. The oil and water together are returned into 
the worts when boiled, or the oil, after being separated 
from the water, along with which it had been exhaled, 
is returned into the worts after they are boiled ; and the 
watery part, which, after the oil is separated, still con- 
tinues impregnated with the aromatick taste and bitter 
of the hop, is returned into the next copper or boiling- 
vessel ; and so on, from one copper or boiling vessel 
into another; By which process a considerable part of 
the hop and flavour, which is lost in the ordinary mode 
of brewing is preserved : the flavour of the liquor is 
improved by the preservation of the finer parts of the 
aromatick oil j and the ale and beer are better secured 
from any tendency to acidity or putrefaction, and 
therefore must be fitter for home consumption, and 
exportation. However, neither the principle nor the 
execution of this invention depend on the particular 
way or means by which the steam is condensed and the 
essential oil is preserved, which may be eff"ected either in 
a still, or in any copper, or boiler of any kind, having a 
winding-pipe similar or the same as a worm to a still, 
or a straight pipe laid in cold water, or carried through 
any cooling body or medium, and, in short, in any of 
the various ways in which steam evaporated from a 
boiling vessel may be condensed. In witnes, &c. 



370 EXPERIMENTS ON THE PURIFICATION 



EXPERIMENTS 

TFPON THE PURIFICATION OF CRUDK SALTPETRE, BT MEANS 
OF CHARCOAL POWDER ; BY MR JOHN GADOLIN, MEMBER 
OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF STOCKHOLM. 

FROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE SAID ACADEMY. 

1. CRUDE saltpetre contains various heterogeneous 
substances, of which the principal are» sea salt, sal 
digestivum^ magnesia, and calcareous earth, all which 
are united to the nitrous acid : there is besides a cer- 
tain quantity of greasy matter^ which sometimes is 
accompanied by volatile alkali. The different propor- 
tion which these salts bear with respect to the pure 
saltpetre, when crystallized, and the deliquescent na- 
ture of the forementioned earthy neutral salts, furnish 
obvious means for separating them from each other ; 
but, so long as any considerable quantity of the greasy 
matter remains, it is impossible to obtain good crystals 
of saltpetre, or to separate and extract from it the 
other species of salts. 

2. The purification of crude saltpetre consists prin- 
cipally in taking from it this greasy matter. This 
operation is performed in the large way, to a certain 
degree, by keeping a concentrated solution of saltpetre 
boiling, so that the greasy matter may be removed by 
skimming: but there is apt to remain in the saltpetre 
a sufficient quantity of this matter to render it foul, 
which makes it necessary to repeat the operation se- 
veral times, to bring the salt into such a state of purity 
as is sufficient for common use. 

3. Amongst the means which have been hitherto 
proposed for depriving saltpetre of this greasy matter, 
the use of alum is probably the most certain ; but, be- 
sides its being too expensive to be made use of in 
the large way, it would occasion the saltpetre to be 
impregnated with vitriolick acid, if before its lixivia- 
tion it did not contain a sufficiently large proportion of 
calcareous earth. It is therefore to be wished that some 
process could be discovered, by which saltpetre might 
be deprived, at a small expense, of its impurities. 

4. As charcoal-powder has lately appeared to possesB 
the property of absorbing those impure greasy matters 
which so often adhere to salts (and even to spirituous 



OF SALTPETRE BY CHARCOAL. 271 

Hquors) when it is digested or boiled with these sub- 
stances,* I thought that a similar process might very 
probably be made use of to purify saltpetre ; with that 
view I made some experiments, which I now submit 
to the judgment of the academy. 



• Although it was already known that fresh burnt charcoal pos- 
sessed a particular disposition to absorb a certain quantity of air, and 
of some other substances with which it was surrounded, more expe- 
rience was necessary before we could infer from that knowledge the 
application which might be made of the power of charcoal, to deprive 
fluid substances of those viscous, oily, or phlegmatick partiiiles which 
are mixed with them, and which remain fixed in their pores when 
once they have introduced themselves. 

The improving of spirituous liquors, by throwing a certain quantity 
of birch charcoal into the still, during their distillation, has been boast- 
ed of as an ingenious discovery. We have also been told of the ad- 
vantage of letting a little soot from the chimney fall into beer while 
it was boiling ; and that the beer became thereby remarkably clear : 
^ut these means, though so much extolled by some, have not been 
acknowledged as true by others ; who, on the contrary, have abso- 
lutely abandoned them, or at least omitted making use of them, un. 
til more knowledge respecting them should be acquired by experi- 
ments properly made, and we should be able to determine truly the 
value of the principle upon which the effect of these means depend. 

Mr. Lowitz, of Petersburgh, is probably the first person who pub- 
lished that, by means of charcoal, the acid of tartar, spirituous liquors, 
and many other substances might be freed from greasy matter, and 
other similar impurities. (Act. Petropol. Tom. V. Hist. p. 41. ibid 
Tom. VI. p. 57.) He supposed that there exists in charcoal a strong 
disposition to attract phlogiston, as it does Bot lose that principle by 
burning in a close fire ; and from that he infers the possibility ai 
dephlogisticating bodies, even in the moist way. By that he alsc^ 
explains his new method of purifying the forementioned substancee. 
See CreU's Chemische Annalen. 1786, p. 233, 293. Item, 1788, p. 
36, 131. 

M. Piepenbring repeated Mr Lowitz's Experiments with success , 
(CreU's Chem. Ann. 1787, p 157.) so also did Brugnatelli and Wes- 
trumb. (Ibid. 1789, p. 50.) But Mr. Fuchs, (ibid. 1788, p. 393.) 
Mr. Hahnemann, (ibid. 1789, p. 202.) and several others, after having 
in vain tried to deprive solutions of salts of their brown colour and 
viscosity by cliarcoal-powder, combated Mr. Lowitz's theory. Dif- 
ferent substances would certainly be differently acted upon, in propor- 
tion to the purity of the charcoal ; and the cause of their ill success 
seems very much to have been owing, either to the charcoal not 
having been properly burnt, or to its ha\'ing been rendered foul by 
some foreign vapours, before it was used in the experiments. 

I have repeated some of Mr, Lowitz's experiments, and from them 
I conceived the hope of being able to make use of charcoal-powdev 
to purify saltpetre ; a purpose for which it has not, I believe, been 
hitherto used by any person. But the pui'ity of saltpetre is an object 
of such importance in making gunpowder, that I took the utmoT?); 
care in conducting my experimentn. 



972 EXPERIMENTS ON THE PURinCATlON 

S, I had twelve pounds of crude saltpetre, very 
brown and watery : at the bottom of the vessel, in which 
I had put it, there had collected eleven lod<^^ of a 
watery brown matter, which I shall call mother water ^ 
and which I separated from the salt. 

A. I threw upon unsized paper eight lods of this 
crude saltpetre ; it was kept in a moderate heat, that it 
might dry, after which it weighed only 7,15 lods. 

B. I dissolved one lod of crude saltpetre in water ; 
and precipitated it by a solution of silver; the luna 
cornea^ collected and put to dry, weighed, when dry, 
0,0496 of a lod. 

C. To five lods of crude saltpetre, dissolved in wa- 
ter, I added a superabundant quantitv of fixed vegetable 
alkali. A small quantity of precipitate, of a dark 
brown colour, was produced, which was not sensibly 
increased by being kept in a strong digesting heat ; but 
there was perceived a faint smell of volatile alkali. The 
weight of the whole precipitate, collected together, was 
0,013 of a lod. 

D. One lod of the mother-water gave, with a solu- 
tion of silver, a precipitate, which, after being put upon 
a filter, and dried, weighed 0,368 of a lod. The lie 
which passed through the filter, being suffered to eva- 
porate, produced prismatick crystals, some of which 
were deliquescent in the air, the others were pure salt- 
petre. 

E. From two lods of mother-water I obtained, by* 
means of vegetable alkali, a precipitate of a light colour, 
which, after having been drained and dried, had the 
appearance of tripoli, and weighed 0,092 of a lod. This 
powder was dissolved by marine acid, with a violent 
effervescence, into a liquor of a clear, but dark, ap- 
pearance ; a greas}' scum remained undissolved. The 
solution, when separated from this greasy matter by the 
filter, was clear, but became turbid by the addition of 
vitriolick acid i nevertheless, it became clear again af- 
ter I had mixed a large quantity of water with it. I 
also poured some vitriolick acid alone upon the preci- 
Ditate ; a strong effervescence arose, and a powder, 
apparently of a gypseous nature, remained undissolved. 



* A lod is 1-32 of a Swedish pound; it is rather less thaa half an 
'»nnre Eng-lls-h, i. e. it is l-34th of a pound avoirdupois, or nearly so. 



or SALTPETRE BY CHARCOAL. 273 

The solution, being filtered, produced, by evaporation, 
long selenitick crystals, and crystals of Epsom salt. 

F. Two lods of mother-water, being evaporated to 
dryness by a digesting heat, became a mass of a dark 
brown colour, full of irregular cubical crystals ; it weigh- 
ed 0,625 of a lod. Being suffered to remain in a cold 
room, it attracted a certain quantity of moisture. Af- 
ter being dissolved in water and filtered, there remained 
upon the filter a quantity of sediment hardly percepti- 
ble. I threw into the above mentioned solution, a so- 
lution of mercury in nitrous acid, and I was struck 
with an acetous smell which disengaged itself. The 
solution lost its dark colour, and became clear ; it also 
let fall a considerable quantity of a white sediment, the 
greatest part of which dissolved again when it was 
thrown upon the filter. What remained of it was of a 
brownish yellow, which, by the blow-pipe, gave a smoke 
similar to that of corrosive sublimate ; after that it- 
changed into a black coal, which was quickly consumed 
by the help of the blow-pipe, leaving only a small 
quantity of ashes. 

G. Six lods of mother-water, mixed with eight lods 
of water, and one lod and a half of charcoal-powder, 
were put over a moderate fire, where they were kept boil- 
ing for the space of ten minutes, after which I poured 
the liquor into a filter, through which I made it pass 
with twelve lods of boiling water. The filtered liquor 
was transparent, and of a light yellow colour. I mix- 
ed it again with one lod and a half of charcoal-powder j 
boiled it as before, and filtered it. It passed much more 
readily through the filter than the first time ; and was 
almost as colourless as plain v,rater, having only a very 
light yellowish tinge. I again boiled this lie, the volume 
of which was equal to fourteen ounces of water, upon 
a moderate fire, and reduced it to the volume of one 
ounce ; after which I set it in a cold place. In a few 
minutes it was full of white cubical crystals of sal di- 
gestivum^ amongst which there formed, after a longer 
cooling, a quantity of prismatick crystals of saltpetre : 
the two quantities together weighed 0,9 of a lod. The 
remaining lie gave me, by a further evaporation, 0,1 T 
of a lod of cubical crystals. These crystalized salts 
emitted a smell of muriatick acid, upon being held over 
the fire ; and, when I dissolved them again in water, 
they left a small quantity of powder undissolved. I 
threw some vegetable alkali into the solution ; it oc- 

N n 



274 EXPERIMENTS ON THE PURIFICATION. 

casioned a precipitate which weighed 0,119 of a led, 
and which consisted of calcareous earth and magnesia. 
The charcoal-powder which was made use of had 
gained in weight about half a lod. 

6. From the experiments of the preceding section, 
which I made in order to discover the constituent parts 
of my crude saltpetre, it follows, that 100 parts of that 
saltpetre contain about 9 1-2 parts of mother-water ; (A) 
also, that they contain about three sevenths more of 
muriatick acid than is contained in a corresponding 
quantity of mother-water ; for, according to experiment 
B, 100 parts of crude saltpetre contained as much mu«!> 
riatick acid as is found in 4,96 parts of luna cornea; 
but, according to experiment D, the muriatick acid in 
nine parts and a half of mother-water corresponds only 
to 3,5 parts of luna cornea. This proportion, however, 
may require some correction j particularly when it is 
considered that the greasy matter, which is absorbed in 
the precipitation of the metallick calx augments the 
weight of the precipitate ; this is evident from the ex- 
periment with a solution of mercury, (F) but, with re- 
spect to the foulness, which could not be great, in propor- 
tion to the whole precipitation of silver, 1 think it the 
less necessary to consider it here, as I observed, on the 
contrary, that my Iwia cornea appeared more soluble in 
water (and consequently was more diminished in quan- 
tity during the draining and filtering) than a pure luna 
cornea generally is. This probably was occasioned by 
the volatile alkali which was contained in the mother 
water ; which is capable of dissolving silver, when that 
metal is united to marine acid. 

7. From experiment G, I draw the fallowing inference, 
namely, that lOO parts of the mother-water contained 
about 8,5 parts of greasy matter, which was absorbed 
by the charcoal ; now, as the whole of the substances 
contained in the mother-water, after the dissolution, 
amounted to 31 parts in 100, according to experiment F, 
it follows also, that the salts contained in the mother- 
^vater (which were principally formed of marine acid 
united to vegetable alkali, calcareous earth, and mag- 
nesia) amounted to 22,5 parts in 100. 

Therefore the constituent parts of the crude saltpetre 
I examined may be considered as, very nearly, eighty- 
nine parts and a half of pure saltpetre, three parts of 
aeutral salts of the nature of sea salt^ one part of 



OF SALTPETRE BY CHARCOAL. 2TS 

greasy matter, and six parts and a half of water, be- 
sides the water of crystallization. 

8. As experiment G proves that the mother-water 
may be deprived of the greasy matter, by means of 
charcoal-powder, I had no doubt that the same thing 
would happen to crude saltpetre, if treated in the same 
manner. But what proportion of charcoal would be 
necessary for a given quantity of saltpetre, and what 
remarkable phenomena might result from such an ope- 
ration, were circumstances I wished to inform myself of. 

The following is the manner in which I proceeded 
in making the four experiments hereafter described. 

I first threw a pound of crude saltpetre, with the char- 
coaVpowder, and six pounds of pure water, into a cop- 
per vessel. I kept the whole boiling upon the fire for 
the space of ten minutes, and then filtered the decoc- 
tion through a double filtering paper. I afterwards 
passed through the filter, two pounds of boiling water, 
and then evaporated, by boiling, the whole of what had 
passed 'through the filter, till a drop of it, thrown upon 
a cold piece of glass, immediately showed signs of crys- 
tallization, and was in a few seconds converted into 
crystals. 

I then poured the whole of the lie into a glass vessel, 
which I placed, uncovered, in a cold place, that the salt 
might crystallize. In this way I obtained from the first 
crystallization, about twenty U)ds of salt. The remain- 
ing lie was then again evaporated, till the same dispo- 
sition to crystallization appeared as before : I obtained 
from it about six lods and a half of saltpetre. After a 
third evaporation, I obtained two lods more. What 
then remained of the lie produced a small quantity of 
saltpetre, mixed with a great deal of sal digestivum* 

FIRST EXPERIMENT. 

After having boiled one pound of crude saltpetre with 
eight lods of charcoal-powder, in the manner already 
mentioned, the lie appeared quite as clear as water, and 
the crystals I obtained from the first and second evapo* 
ration were perfectly white and clear. Half a lod ot 
each crystallization, being dissolved in three lods and a 
half of water, acquired a milky appearance from a so- 
lution of silver in nitrous acid ; and each of the solu- 
tions gave me a quantity of precipitate, weighing 
0,002 parts of a lod. 



276 EXPERIMENTS ON THE PURIFICATION. 

After the evaporation, the crystals I obtained were 
still very clear, and evidently whiter than good common 
saltpetre. Half a lod of them, by means of a solution 
of silver, gave a precipitate which weighed 0,007 parts 
of a lod. 

The crystals of mixed salts which I obtained from 
the fourth evaporation were still very white, but less 
clear than the preceding. 

The last remaining part of the mother-water was be- 
come a little yellowish ; but, I procured from it, by 
means of vegetable alkali, a white precipitate, weighing 
about one tenth of a lod, which consisted of magnesia 
and calcareous earth. 

SECOND EXPERIMENT. 

From one pound of crude saltpetre, boiled with four 
lods of charcoal-powder, I procured a clear lie with a 
yellowish tinge. The crystals formed after a first, se- 
cond, and third evaporation, could not, by any means, 
be distinguished from those which I obtained in the first 
experiment. They were also affected nearly in the 
same manner by a solution of silver i for, half a lod of 
the first crystallization gave me 0,002 parts of iuna cor- 
nea^ so did also half a lod of the second. Half a lod 
of the third crystallization gave me 0,008 parts of a lod 
of Iuna cornea. What I obtained from the fourth cr}''s- 
tallization had a yellowish tinge ; and the mother water 
then remaining was of a reddish yellow colour, 

THIRD EXTERIMENT. 

One pound of crude saltpetre, with two lods of char- 
coal powder, produced a yellowish lie, from which I 
obtained, by the first crystallization, very white and 
clear crvstals ; nevertheless, when I examined them 
more clearlv, and compared them with the crystals ob- 
tained from the first crystallization in the preceding 
experiments, I observed that they appeared to have a 
yellowish tinge. From half a lod of these crystals, by 
means of a solution of silver, I obtained 0,0006 parts of 
a lod of Iuna cornea. The crystals produced by a second 
crvstallization were similar, in appearance, to those of 
the first ; and half a lod of them gave me, with a solu- 
tion of silver, 0,0006 parts of a lod of /una cornea* 
The crvstals I obtained from a third crvstallization were 



OF SALTPETRE BY CHARCOAL. 277 

evidently more yellow, like those of saltpetre purified 
by the usual processes. Half a lod of these crystals 
gave me, wiih a solution of silver, 0,012 parts of a lod 
of luna cornea. From the fourth crystallization I ob- 
tained crystals of a bright yellow ; the remaining lie had 
a dark brown yellow colour. 

POURTH EXPERIMENT. 

One pound of crude saltpetre, with one lod of char- 
coal-powder, produced a lie of a dark reddish yellow 
colour ; from which I procured, at the first crystalliza- 
tion, crystals of saltpetre which were sufficiently white, 
but less clear than those of the foregoing experiments. 
Half a lod of these crystals, dissolved in three lods and 
a half of water, produced a lie which, upon my pouring 
into it some of the solution of silver, became milky, 
but no precipitate was formed ; being filtered, the lie 
again became clear, but the matter which remained 
behind upon the filter was not sensible in my scales, 
and could not exceed the 0,0001 part of a lod. The 
crystals which I obtained from a second crystallization 
were similar to those which the preceding experiment 
gave me at the third. From half a lod of them, by 
means of a solution of silver, I procured 0,00j>4 parts 
of a lod of luna cornea. The crystals I got from a third 
crystallization were yellowish ; half a lod of them gave 
me, with a solution of silver, 0,0135 parts of a lod of 
precipitate. The lie which remained was of a dark 
brown colour. 

FIFTH EXPERIMENT. 

In order to establish a comparison with the preceding 
experiments, I dissolved one pound of crude saltpetre 
in six pounds of water, and I kept it boiling as before, 
but without adding any charcoal-powder. The filtered 
lie was of a dark brown colour. The saltpetre which 
I obtained at the first crystallization was rather of a 
yellowish colour, and resembled the crystals of the third 
crystallization in the third experiment. Half a lod of 
it gave me, by means of a solution of silver, 0,001 
part of a lod of luna cornea* That which I obtained 
from a second crystallization was more yellow ; half a 
lod of it gave me, by means of a solution of silver, 
0,0045 parts of a lod of luna cornea. From a third 



278 EXPERIMENTS ON THE PURIFICATION 

crystallization I obtained cr} stals of a still deeper yel- 
low, half a lod of which gave me, with a solution of 
silver, 0,017 parts of a lod of precipitate of silver. 
The remaining lie was of a blackish brown colour. 

9. It is remarkable that the saltpetre which was ob- 
tained (at the first ciystallization) from the lies which 
were completely deprived of the greasy matter showed, 
by means of a solution of silver, a greater proportion of 
marine acid than that which still contained a certain 
quantity of that matter. This is perhaps owing (unless 
the greasy matter renders the precipitate of silver 
more soluble in water) to the saltpetre being more dis- 
posed to cr)'stallize when the lie is pure ; a circumstance 
w^hich prevents it from separating so completely from 
the particles of sea salt, or other salts of that nature ; 
as, on the other hand, these particles insinuate them- 
selves in greater proportion, when the lie is much 
charged with greasy matter, which, by its viscosity, 
much obstructs a regular crystallization. 

By these inconveniences, arising from a laboured 
mode of purification, need net perhaps be feared in 
operations on a large scale ; where the cooling takes 
place more slowly, and the crystallization is always 
more regular. For, that greater proportion of sea salt 
which is found in saltpetre produced from a more pure 
lie, and which is observed only when a small quantity of 
that salt is found in the lie, does not exceed one-sixth 
per cent, of the weight of the saltpetre. It is probable 
that a quantity of sea salt so very inconsiderable must 
be of less injury, in the process of making gunpowder, 
than the smallest foulness produced by the greasy mat- 
ter. 

On the contrary, there is an undoubted advantage in 
separating completely the greasy matter, even with re- 
spect to the proportion of sea salt, when that salt is 
found in great quantity in the lie. 

For, when the lie was found to contain, in the second 
crystallization, about ten to twelve per cent, (with re- 
spect to the saltpetre) of sea salt, or salts similar to it, 
it was only in those cases in which the greasy matter 
was entirely taken away, that the crystals which were 
formed contained a quantity of marine acid correspond- 
ing to one-fifth per cent, of sea salt. But, when a 
smaller quantity of charcoal, or n&ne at all, was made 
use of, the proportion of sea salt amounted to one-fourth 
and three-eighths per cent. And when, at the third 



01? SALTPETRE BY CltARCOAL. 279 

crystallization, the lie was found to contain nearly 30 
per cent, of sea salt, the saltpetre, well purified by the 
charcoal, contained no more than two-thirds per cent, 
of sea salt ; whereas that which had been made without 
charcoal contained more than double that quantity, or 
one and a half per cent, 

9. I concluded, from the foreg-oing experiments, that 
two lods and a half of charcoal-powder were sufficient 
to separate from the lie so much greasy matter, that 
the crystals should be completely purified at the first 
crystallization. 

Upon that principle I undertook another series of 
experiments, with the remaining part of my crude i^alt- 
petre ; proceeding in the following manner. 

I boiled one pound of crude saltpetre, with two lods 
and a half of charcoal-powder, and six pounds of water, 
for the space of ten minutes, and filtered the lie. I then 
passed two pounds of boiling water over the charcoal, 
and evaporated the whole of what had passed through 
the filter, till it showed the disposition to crystalliza- 
tion before described ; I then let it crystallize. 

The clear lie which remained was poured oif from 
the crystals, and mixed with twenty-four lods of crude 
saltpetre, and two lods and a half of charcoal-powder ; it 
was then boiled as before. 

I repeated this experiment several times, as is shown 
in the following table, and, at every crystallization, very- 
white and clear crystals of saltpetre were obtained. 

In the first column of the table is set down the weight 
of crude saltpetre which I used in each boiling. In the 
second, the weight of the charcoal added to it. In the 
third, the weight of the crystals of saltpetre obtained. 
In the fourth, the weight of the precipitate produced, 
by means of a solution of silver, from half a lod of 
crystallized saltpetre. In the fifth, the precipitate of 
silver obtained from the crystals, computed per cent, with 
respect to the saltpetre. In the sixth, the precipitate of 
silver obtained from the crude saltpetre in the lie, 
computed, as near as could be (according to experiment 
B, sect. 5.) per cent, with respect to pure and dissolved 
saltpetre. 



280 



EXPERIMENTS ON THE PURIFICATION 



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OT SALTPETRE BY CHARCOAL. 281 

Before the saltpetre of No. 9, crystallized, there was 
formed on the lie a thick crust of salt j I therefore let 
it cool, and there soon appeared a quantity of cubical 
crystals. The remaining lie gave me also (as is seen 
in the table) two lods and a half of saltpetre, mixed 
with sea salt. 

I dissolved the forementioned crust, and the cubical 
crystals, in water ; there was left a certain quantity of 
white powder which would not dissolve, and which 
appeared to be of a gypseous nature ; it weighed 0,06 
of a lod. From this solution and the last remaining 
mother-water I obtained, by means of vegetable alkali, 
a light coloured precipitate which weighed three quarters 
of a lod ; and which, besides a little greasy matter, 
consisted of calcareous earth and magnesia. 

11. From the experiments described in the preceding 
section, it evidently appears how little sea salt, or other 
salts which contain marine acid, are disposed to crys- 
tallize with saltpetre, even when the lie has been de- 
prived of greasy matter, and crystallization conducted 
with attention. 

But I shall not make any further observations on 
these experiments, my design having been merely to 
show, that charcoal is an excellent medium for depriving 
crude saltpetre of its greasy matter ; and that, by its 
assistance, we may not only obtain saltpetre perfectljf 
pure at the first crystallization, but may also advan- 
tageously employ the lie which is poured off from the 
crystals, as an addition to the following crystallizations. 

Besides, as the mother-water, according to experi- 
ment G, (sect. 5.) may also be rendered fit for cry ? 
tallization by means of charcoal-powder, there can be 
no reason why saltpetre makers may not, with good 
effect, add this powder to their crude lie, when they 
boil it. 

12. But all operations in the large way require dif- 
ferent combinations, and a different manner of proceed- 
ing, from those experiments which are made with small 
quantities. On that account, I cannot pretend to deter- 
mine exactly how much charcoal may be necessary to 
purify any given large quantity of saltpetre ; in all pro- 
bability much less than two lods and a half to a pound 
of saltpetre would be sufficient to produce all the advan» 
tage that can be desired. We must therefore have re- 
course to further experience, to learh the necessary 
practical facts, and determine the manner of operating 

o o 



282 ON IRON RAILWAYS. 

in a sure manner. As, in operations in the large way, 
the greasy matter appears in form of a scum, we might 
take away the charcoal at the same time with the scum, 
and thus separate them, both together, from the lie. 
In this way, filtration would not be necessary ; and the 
expense of this mode of purification would be very in- 
considerable ; but, if filtration should be found neces- 
sary for operations in the large way, I still think that 
the expense would be amply compensated by the short- 
ening of the tedious processes hitherto employed, and 
by the advantage of obtaining a more pure saltpetre than 
is usually to be had, and which would certainly make 
gunpowder of a superiour quality to that now mad^ 
use of. 



ON THE UTILITY OF IRON RAILWAYS. 

BY JOSEPH WILKES, ESq. OF MEASHAM. 

FROM THE SECOND VOLUME OF COMMUNXCATIOKS TO THE BOARO 

OF AGRICULTURE. 

ON the fourteenth of August, 1799, a party de- 
puted from the committee for conducting the concerns 
of the Grand Junction Canal, with other gentlemen, 
attended at my colliery at Measham, in Derbyshire, for 
the purpose of obtaining occular and satisfactory proof 
g£ the utility of the iron railways, previous to that 
company adopting them (which they have now done) 
in lieu of some portion of their line of canal. The re- 
sult of the experiments was nearly thus : one horse, 
of the value of 20/. on a declivity of an iron road five 
sixteenths of an inch at a yard, drew twenty-one car- 
riages or wagons, laden with coals and timber, amount- 
ing, in the whole, to thirty-five tons, overcoming the 
vis inertia^ repeatedly, with great ease. The same horse, 
up this acclivity, drew five tons with ease ; he also 
drew up the road, where the acclivity was 1 3-4 of au 
inch at a yard, three tons. But on this declivity it is 
necessary to slipper or lock the wheels, the horse not 
being able to resist the 'increased momentum of more 
than three or four tons. 



ON IRON RAILWAYS, 283 

The same gentlemen proceeded the next day to ano- 
ther colliery I have at Brinsley, in Nottinghamshire, 
where one horse, value 30/. drew, on a road of the same 
construction, where the declivity was one third of an 
inch at a yard, twenty-one wagons, of five hundred 
weight each, which, with their loading of coals, amount- 
ed to forty-three tons, eight hundred weight; the same 
horse drew seven tons up the road. It must be ob- 
served, that in both the foregoing statements, the hun- 
dred weight is 120 lb. On this road the rails are three 
feet long each, 33 lb. .weight, and calculated to carry 
two tons on each wagon, laid four feet two inches wide, 
on stone or wood sleepers, placed on a bed of sleek, 
so as to fix it solid and firm. The expense of com- 
pleting one mile of such a road, where materials of all 
descriptions lie convenient, and where the land lies 
tolerably favourable for the descent, will be about 
900/. or 1000/. per mile, single road, fenced, &c. ex- 
clusive of bridges, culverts, or any extra expense in 
deep cutting or high embankments. Rails are made 
from twenty to forty pound per yard, agreeable to the 
weight they have to bear. 

By the introduction of iron railways, constructed on 
the best plan, canals may extend their useful influence 
in enriching and improving the country to the distance 
of ten or twenty miles on either side of them, into high 
mountainous countries, where canals are almost im- 
practicable : instance the railway of the Peak Forest, 
in Derbyshire, which joins the Ashton canal, the road 
from Denbigh to near the town of Derby, and a great 
many others. In numberless cases, near large towns, 
they would, no doubt, be of the greatest utility ; as 
for Paddington and the Thames, to different parts of the 
metropolis, to convey merchandise to and from, as well 
as speedily and easily take off nuisances from the town, 
cause less wear to the streets, and prevent many dis- 
agreeable consequences arising from the great number 
of heavy burthened carriages crowding together; 

In a great many instances it will occur, where a railway, 
either connected with a canal or not, will be the mode of 
a cheaper conveyance than water would be. It clearly 
appears, in the case of the Ashby canal, that their railway, 
which is now executing, and a double one, will cost two- 
thirds less than a canal would have done in the district of 
their railway, where the ground for a canal is unfavour- 
able, and furnish the article of lime, which it is princi- 



284 ON IRON RAILWAYS. 

pally intended to convey, at two-fifths less than a canal 
would have done, though it is an ascent for some 
miles on the road ; so it is with the Peak Forest, Derby, 
&c. In short, wherever the quantity of goods to be 
convej'ed on a railway, having a descent of not more 
than half an inch in a yard, amounts to two-thirds of 
the weight, as downgate loading, it is a doubt if it will 
not, in that case, be a cheaper conveyance than a canal ; 
if despatch is necessary, a railway is more certain than 
a canal, being far more easily repaired ; neither does 
frost or dry seasons affect the trade thereon. 

Iron railways have been used for some years in 
Shropshire, and other places ; but for want of proper 
system in the forming and laying of such roads, they 
have been found of little or no more service than wood 
railways, which, from the late improvements in iron 
roads, are now in disrepute. 

The leading principles of iron roads are, that the 
ground should be formed true, making a perfect inclined 
plane, made dry by cutting back-drains, soughing, &c. 
Sleepers of stone, rather than wood, on which the rails 
rest, and which should be firmly fixed on a bed of stone, 
beat small, the horse-path filled with good small hard 
jnaterials, rails three feet long each, weighing thirty-three, 
pound, to carry two tons, and laid not less than four 
feet wide. 

Iron roads, constructed on this plan, which, I ap- 
prehend, is yet far short of the perfection they will 
arrive at, for the carriage of heavy goods to and from 
large commercial towns, in conjunction with canals, will 
evidently be of great national advantage ; and if the 
turnpike roads through the kingdom were made on the 
concave system (agreeable to that which I had the 
honour to transmit to the Board some lime since) the 
first principle* of which is to have a perfect inclined plane, 
a considerable revenue might be derived by government 
therefrom, without a tax upon the publick. Repairs 
would be very trifling, owing to water becoming the 
principal repairing agent ; the traveller would be expe- 
dited from the smoothness of the road, and more secure 
from accident ; the commerce of the kingdom speedily 
conveyed from one point to another, and the farmer 
would be benefited by the advantage of a rich wash, 
which might be easily conducted from the roads, over 
his fields, perhaps in many cases equivalent to the main- 
tenance of the road. 



METHOD OF SWEEPING NARROW CHIMNEYS. 285 



DESCRIPTION 

OF A METHOD OF SWEEPING NARROW CHIMNEYiS, WITHOVT 
THE INHUMAN PRACTICE OF EMPLOYING CHILDREN. 

REPERTORY OF ARTS. 

ON the cover of Number XV. of the Repertory 
several questions were proposed, and among others, 
how to sweep narrow chimneys, without the inhuman 
practice of employing children. This practice is the 
more inexcusable, ias in many large cities (Edinburgh, 
Glasgow, &c.) a mode has been in use, time immemo- 
rial, which effectually answers the end intended : it is 
extremely simple, and any person may execute it from 
the following short directions. 

Procure a rope for the purpose, twice the length of 
the height of the chimney ; to the middle of it tie a 
bush (broom, furze, or any other) of sufficient size to 
fill the chimney ; put one end of the rope down the 
chimney (if there be any windings in it, tie a bullet or 
round stone to the end of the rope) and introduce the 
wood end of the bush after the rope has descended into 
the chamber; there let a person pull it down. The 
bush, by the elasticity of its twigs, brushes the sides 
of the chimney as it descends, and carries the soot with 
it. If necessary, the person at top, who has hold of 
the other end of the rope, draws the bush up again j 
but, in this case, the person below must turn the bush, 
to send the wood end foremost, before he call to the 
person at top to pull it up. 

Many people who are silent to the calls of humanity 
are yet attentive to the voice of interest ; chimneys 
cleaned in this way never need a tenth part of the re- 
pairs required where they are swept by children ; who 
being obliged to work themselves up by pressing with 
their feet and knees on one side, and their back on the 
other, often force out the bricks which divide the chim- 
neys. This is one of the causes why, in many houses 
in London, a fire in one apartment always fills the 
adjoining ones with smoke, and sometimes even the 
neighbouring house. Nay, some houses have even 
been burnt by this means ; for, a foul chimney, taking 
fire, has been frequently known to communicate, by these 
apertures, to empty apartments, or to apartments filled 



2^6 METHOD OF MAKING ICE. 

with lumber, where, of course, it was not thought ne- 
cessary to make any examination, after extinguishing 
the fire in the chimney where it began. 

Some time ago an act of parliament was passed, enact- 
ing, that all children employed in sweeping chimneys 
should have brass pJates on the front of their caps, with 
their masters' names engraved upon them, that, when 
any of the boys were ill used, their masters might be 
known and punished. An act to prevent altogether the 
inhuman practice would be productive of much more 
solid advantages. It would be no injury to those who 
at present live by that employment ; for chimney sweep- 
ers would then be as necessary for the convenience of 
the publick as now ; and those who are now employed 
are the very people who would then provide themselves 
with ropes and bushes, or with brushes made for the 
purpose. 



ACCOUNT 



•F THE METHOD OF MAKING ICE AT BENARES. BY JOHN 
LLOYD WILLIAMS, ESQ. 

FROM THE PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OP THE ROYAfc SOCIE- 
TY OF LONDON. 

AS the method of making ice in this country, 
where the thermometer, during part of the year, stands 
at from 95 to 100 degrees in the shade, has something 
peculiar in it, I trust the following description of the 
process will not be unacceptable. 

Ice is made in India during the months of December, 
January, and part of February : but I believe it has ge- 
nerally been considered as necessary to the congelation 
of the water, that it should have been boiled. However, 
I can now state it as a fact, with my own observation, 
for these nine years past, that a large quantity of ice 
has been made at this place every year, without any 
preparation whatever ; and I have often seen ice of an 
inch and a quarter thick, notwithstanding I do not 
conceive that the atmosphere, at that time was sujffi- 
ciently cold to produce the effect j for I have frequently 



METHOD OF MAKING ICE, 287 

placed a thermometer, with the naked bulb on the straw, 
amidst the freezing vessels during the night, and, on 
inspecting it between five and six o'clock in the morn- 
ing (at which time the ice makers informed me the 
cold was most intense) I never found it below 25 de- 
grees* I have even seen ice, of a considerable thick- 
ness, formed when the thermometer was not lower 
than 40 degrees. 

The method of making ice at Seerore, near Benares, 
is as fellows : 

A space of ground of about four acres, nearly level, 
is divided into square plats, from four to six feet wide. 
The borders are raised, by earth taken from the surface 
of the plats, to about four inches ; the cavities are 
filled up with dry straw, or sugar cane haum, laid 
smooth, on which are placed as many broad shallow 
pans, of unglazed earth, as the spaces will hold, l^hese 
pans are so extremely porous, that their outsides be- 
come moist the instant water Is put into them : they arc 
smeared with butter on the inside, to prevent the ice 
from adhering to them ; and this it is necessary to repeat 
©very three or four days ; it would otherwise be impos- 
sible to remove the ice, without either breaking the 
vessel, or spending more time in effecting it than could 
be afforded, where so much is to be done in so short 
a time. In the afternoon, these pans are all filled 
with water, by persons who walk along the borders or 
ridges. About five in the morning they begin to re- 
move the ice from the pans : which is done by striking 
an iron hook into the centre of it, and by that means 
breaking it into several pieces. If the pans have been 
many days without smearing, and it happens that the 
whole of the water is frozen, it is almost impossible 
to extract the ice without breaking the pan. Th& 
number of pans exposed at one time is computed at 
about 100,000; and there are employed, in filling them 
with water in the evenings, and taking out the ice in 
the mornings, about 300 men, women, and children : 
the water is taken from a well, contiguous to the spot. 
New vessels, being most porous, answer best. 

It is necessary that the straw be dry ; when it be- 
comes wet, as it frequently does by accident, it is 
removed, and replaced, I have observed water which 
had been boiled, freeze in a China plate ; yet, having 
frequently placed a China plate, with well-water, among 
-the tinglazed pans, on the straw beds, I found that 



288 METHOD or MAKING ICE, 

wfcen the latter had a considerable thickness of ice on 
them, the China plate had none. I have also wetted 
the straw of some of the plats, and always found it 
prevented the formation of ice. The air is generally- 
very still when much ice is formed ; a gentle air usually 
prevails from the south-westward about day-light. I 
had a thermometer among the ice pans, during the sea- 
son of making ice, with its bulb placed on the straw, 
and another hung on a pole, five feet and a half above 
the ground ; and commonly observed, that when ice 
was formed, and the thermometer on the straw was 
from 37 to 42 degrees, that on the pole would stand 
about four degrees higher ; but, if there was any wind, 
so as to prevent freezing, both the thermometers would 
agree. 

April 30, 1792, the thermometer in the shade being 
at 95 degrees, some water was taken up from a well, 
sixty feet deep, and the thermometer being immerged 
in it, its temperature was found to be 74 degrees. 
This water was then poured into four pots or pans, si- 
milar to those already mentioned as being employed in 
the process for making ice. They were also similar to 
each other in size and construction, except that two 
of them were new and unglazed, and the two others 
old, with their pores closed, so that no moisture could 
transpire through them. These pots were then exposed 
to a hot westerly wind, in the shade, for the space of 
three hours, viz. from two o'clock in the afternoon till 
five. Upon examining them at that time, the water 
in the old pots was found to be at 84 degrees, and 
that in the new or porous ones, at 68. After remaining 
in that situation one hour longer, the water in the old 
pots rose to 88 degrees, whilst that in the new ones 
continued at 68. 

May 1, at two o'clock in the afternoon, the thermo- 
meter then being, in the sun, at 110 degrees, and in 
the shade at 100, the experiment was repeated, with the 
same pots as before. After being filled with well-water, 
they were exposed for four hours, viz. from two o'clock 
till six, to a hot wind ; the water in the old pots was 
then found to be at 97 degrees, that in the new ones 
at 68. 

The foregoing observations, on the frigorifick eflfect 
of evaporation from porous vessels, will perhaps account 
in some measure, for ice being formed when the ther- 
mometer, in the air, is above the freezing point. And 



METHOD OF MAKING ICE. 28^ 

the power of evaporation in generating cold may be 
further elucidated, by the following observations on 
the effects produced, by its means, in our houses. 

May 16, 1792, at two in the afternoon, 

The thermometer in the sun, with a 

hot westerly wind, rose to - - , - 118 degrees 

The thermometer in the shade, but ex- 
posed to the hot wind, - - - - - 110 do. 

Ditto, in the house, which was kept cool 

by tatties,^ 87 do. 

June 7. 

Thermometer, in the sun, 113 do. 

Ditto, in the shade, and hot wind, - 104 do. 

Ditto, in the house, cooled by tatties, 83 do. 



* Tatties are a kind of mat, made of fresh green bushes, or long 
roots, like snake root. They are affixed to the door, or window frames, 
and kept constantly sprinkled with water. The degree of cold pro- 
duced by their means is supposed to be in proportion to the heat of 
the wind which passes through them, as on that depends the 
quantity of evaporation. 



P 



290 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 



SKETCH 

OF SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL AMERICAN MANUFACTURES AND 
MANUFACTORIES ; BRIDGES, CANALS, TURNPIKE ROADS, 
AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENTS, PATENT INVENTIONS, &C. 
COLLECTED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.* 

BY THE EDITOR. 

VERMONT. 

IRON mines abound on the west side of the moun- 
tains. The first iron mine in this state was opened in 
TinmoQth, in the year 1785 ; since which others have 
been discovered, and worked in Shaftsbury, Rutland, 
Shoreham, Markton, arid Mihon. Several have been 
found, which have not yet been worked. A lead mine 
has lately been discovered in Sunderland. The vein is 
in a rock of white flint. The ore is very rich, but the 
mine has not been opened sufficiently to discover the 
quantity. In Shrewsbury, in the county of Rutland, 
is found a mine of that species of iron ore called py- 
rites ; the same in quality, though not in appearance, 
with what are called brass lumps, from which copperas, 
or green vitriol is extracted. It is highly sulphureous, 
and will blaze like a brimstone match when thrown into 
the fire. From this ore small quantities of copperas 
have been made, merely for experiment 

" There is in the town of Rutland a vein of very 
fine pipe-clay, which has been wrought into crucibles, 
that prove very durable. This may hereafter furnish 
a material for a valuable manufacture of white earthen 
ware. Numerous quarries of marble, white, grey, 
and variegated, are found in almost every town from 
Bennington to the Missiscoui. A quarry has lately been 
opened in Bennington, which in fineness, and the beauty 
and variety of its clouds, may vie with the best im- 
ported marble. Large quantities of lime are manufac- 



* The greater part of this article will consist of extracts and 
abridgments from the works of various writers, as the Editor has 
not yet had an opportunity to examine in person the subjects which 
are here treated of nor to complete his contemplated arrangements 
for procuring information fi-om gentlemen, from whose correspondence 
he hopes to obtain furthsr and mure minute s^cpounts. 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 291 

tured in Caledonia county, from a species of marie, 
dug out of marshy ground, first made into brick, then 
burned to lime. Though not so strong as stone lime, 
it yet answers a valuable purpose to the inhabitants. 

*' There are several distilleries for corn spirits in this 
state. At Middlebury is a porter brewery on a pretty 
large scale. The iron manufacture is carried on to a 
considerable extent. In the county of Bennington are 
three forges and a furnace. In the counties of Addison 
and Chittenden are five forges. In common seasons, 
large quantities of maple sugar are manufactured for 
home consumption. It has been estimated by a compe- 
tent judge, that the average quantity, made for every 
family back of Connecticut river is 200 pounds a year. 
One man, with but ordinary advantages, in one month, 
made 550 pounds, of a quality equal to imported brown 
sugar. In tw^o towns in Orange county, containing not 
more than forty families, 15,000 pounds of sugar were 
made in the year 1791. In some parts of the state the 
inhabitants are beginning to line the roads with maple 
trees. And it would certainly be a wise measure if this 
practice should become general throughout the states. 
Orchards of these trees, planted on sloping hills, so 
as to render it easy to collect the juice, might be attend- 
ed with peculiar advantages to the owners. Little pains 
however, are taken to plant maple orchards, or even 
to preserve the trees, where they grow spontaneously.^ 



* There is, perhaps, no tree which adorns our forest, so well de- 
serving the attention of the philosopher and the philanthropist as the 
Acer Saccharinum, called in New Eng-land the rock maple. It is va- 
luable not only for the quaUty of its juice, but it affords timber 
for many purposes far superiour to that of most forest trees, and for 
fuel, it is little if at all inferiour to the walnut. It flourishes best 
in moist and strong" soils, but it is observed that those trees, which 
oTOW in dry land produce the sweetest juice, although somewhat 
less in quantity. 

The farmers in New England in general, are so sensible of the 
value of this tree, that they preserve it, when clearing their forests. 
This practice, however, is not without its disadvantages. The tree 
shoots its roots to a very considerable distance, near the surface of 
the ground. Its top is large and foliage luxuriant. The consequence 
is, that when those trees with which it was interwoven, in its native 
state, are cut away, and the the maples are left defenceless against 
the strong winds, and sudden gusts, which are common during the 
summer 'months, they are liable to be overturned, and the roots ad- 
hering to and interwoven with the vegetation around them, the sur- 
face of the soil is turned up sometimes to the distance of fifteen or 
twenty feet from the body of the tree, and the land to that distaiuoe 



292 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

Most families manufacture, in their houses, the greater 
part of their common cloathing, from flax and wool 
raised on their own farms, of an excellent quality," 

MORSE. 



is spoiled, unless the trvink be seasonably cut off, and the stump 
allowed to turn back to a perpendicular position. If, however, in- 
stead of depending on the natural gTO%\'th for a maple orchard, far- 
mers would plant these trees in the most rocky, rough, and rugged 
parts of their farms, they would take root deep in proportion to 
their original exposure, and the daily agitations they experienced 
from the prevalent winds of the climate. The tops would be 
larger, and it is observed that trees with large tops yield the most 
juice ccEteris paribus They would, however, not grow so tall as in 
the forest, and the tops which give the wind its principal advantage 
for overturning the trees would be at the end of a shorter lever, 
and the trees would be very little if at all exposed to being blown 
over. 

There are some peculiarities attending this tree, which deserve 
the attention of the philosopher. Dr. Williams in his justly cele- 
brated Nattral and Civil History or Vermont, speaking 
of the Acer Saccharinum, observes : 

*' The manufacture of tnaple sugar is also an article of great im- 
portance to the state. Perhaps two-thirds of the families are engaged 
ih this business, in the spring, and they make more sugar than is 
used among the people. Considerable quantities are carried to the 
shop keepers, which always find a ready sale and good pay. The 
business is now carried on under the greatest disadvantages : without 
proper conveniences, instruments, or works ; solely by the exertions 
of private families, in the woods, and \\athout any other conveniences 
than one or two iron kettles, the largest of wliich wiU not hold more 
than four or five pail fiills." 

The great object, however, is to obtain the juice. We may have 
accommodations, more or less for evaporation, but where fuel is 
^^^thin reach, the process of boiling the sap will not be of much 
■comparative importance. 

Dr. Williams remarks that " while the trees are frozen at night, 
and thav.-ed in the day, the sap runs plentifiilly : but as soon as 
the buds come on the sap ceases to flow in such a maimer that 
it can be collected." 

What can be the cause of its flowing best in alternations of frost 
and smishine ? Perhaps the frost and the thaw may be requisite in 
order to expand the pores of the wood. Perhaps in a clear day, 
such as generally follows a fi'eezing night, with a northwest wind 
the air may possess greater weight and elasticity, and the tree beino- 
obliged, as it were to pump up, or what is the same thing, obtain by 
suction, the juices which serve to nourish it, is assisted by the weight 
of the atmosphere at such times as the atmosphere possesses the 
greatest weight and elasticity. 

I have known the Rock Maple, when a northerly breeze was blow- 
ing, flow very briskly in the morning. If the \\-ind shifted to the 
south or east, and the barometer fell as it always does in New England, 
very soon after such change, the tree would immediately cease to 
exude its juice. But if the season has been generally unfavourable, the 
tree will oftentimes, contrary to the general laws of its vegetation, 
yield a liberal supply of its juice a*: or near the close of what is 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 29« 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



There is a duck manufactory at Boston, at which 
between 2.000 and 3,000 bolts, of forty yards each, 
(worth about thirteen dollars per bolt) said to be the 
best duck ever seen in America, have been made in 
one year. Manufactories of this kind have been esta- 
blished in Salem, Haverhill, and Springfield. Manu- 
factories of cotton goods have been attempted at Bever- 
ly, Worcester, and Boston, and much credit is due 
to the patriotick gentlemen who began them ; although 
by their persevering exertions they have not been able 
to surmount the various obstacles in the way of suc- 
cess. A woollen manufactory, on an extensive scale, 
has been established at Byfield parish in Newbury. 
At Taunton, Bridgwater, Plymouth, Amesbury, Mid- 
dleborough, and some other places, nails have been 
made in such quantities as to prevent, in a great mea- 
sure, the importation of them from Great Britain. A 
machine for cutting nails has been invented by Mr. 
Jacob Perkins of Newburyport, a gentleman of great 
ingenuity in the science of mechanicks, which (if ne- 
cessary) will turn out two hundred thousand nails in 
a day. The engines, w^hich are worked by water, at 
Amesbury may be increased to any number that may 
be necessary. The nails, it is asserted by those who 
have tried them, have a decided superiority over those 



termed an unfavourable season, while the barometer is low, and the 
Weather, as they say in New England, southerly. 

I would here beg leave to protest ag-ainst a practice, too common 
among the first settlers of our forests, of tapping the trees by what 
they in New England style " Iwxifig." They often cut a large gap in 
the tree, and apply undern<:ath a spout to convey the juice to the 
trough, or receptacle designed for it. But this " boxing" makes a 
wftund not easily healed, and the trees after a few repetitions of such 
a practice decay, and yield no more juice. If, however, small ori- 
iices, or punctures, l)e made with a spike gimblet, a small augur, or 
what is called by some a tap borer, and an elder, or sumach stem, 
hollowed by shaving out the pith, and the ends nicely fitted to the 
orifices, be introduced into such orifices, a portion of the sap or juice 
may be obtained with very little injury to the tree. It would, perhaps, 
be advantageous, at the close of the season for manufacturing maple 
-sugar to draw suck quills, stems, or spouts from the trees, and fill 
the orifices with something like the medicated tar, described page 
or some other substance, which might be useful in healing the wounds 
wliich had been inflicted on the tree. T. G. F. 



294 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

of English manufacture ; and are sold twenty per cent. 
cheaper. The proprietors say they can make a sufficient 
number to supply the continent, Inventions of such ex- 
tensive utility deserve the patronage of the publick. 

In this state are upwards of twenty paper mills, 
six on Neponset river, seven on Charles river, one at 
Andover, on Shawseen river, one at Sutton, one at 
Worcester, another at Springfield ; others have been 
lately erected at different parts of the state. Most of 
these mills have two vats each, and when in action, 
employ ten men and as many girls and boys, and pro- 
duce at the rate of 70,000 reams of writing, printing, 
and wrapping paper annually. It was estimated in 1792, 
that 20,0001. worth of paper was yearly made by these 
mills. The quantity has since rapidly and annually in- 
creased. 

In 1793 the principal card manufactories in Boston, 
belonging to Messrs. G. Richards, W. Whittemore, and 
M. Richards, made yearly about 12000 dozens of cotton 
and wool cards, which consumed nearly 200 casks of 
wire, averaged at 130 dollars per cask, and about 35,000 
tanned calf, sheep, and lamb skins, at thirty seven cents 
each, the sticking of these cards employed not less than 
two thousand people, chiefly children, and above sixty 
men were fully occupied in manufacturing card boards, 
card tacks, and finishing the cards. Besides the above 
there were at that period three other smaller manufac- 
tories in Boston ; and it is estimated that between 2000 
and 3000 dozens of cards were made at the other 
manufactories in different parts of the state. The prin- 
cipal card manufactory is now at Cambridge (Menoto- 
my parish) belonging to Mr. Whittemore, and the 
works are a great curiosity. At the close of the year 
1801, it was etimated that on an average, fifty dozens 
were made in a day, exclusive of those made by ma*, 
chinery. 

There are two or three manufactories, in Boston and 
its vicinity for making playing cards, at one of which 
large quantities are made. 

Lynn, eight miles to the north-eastward of Boston, 
in the county of Essex, is the seat of the shoe manu- 
facture ; though a vast quantity are made in Boston, 
Quincy, Reading, Stoneham, Byfield, Newbury, and 
other jplaces. It is not easy to fix the number of shoes 
aunually made by the industrious inhabitants of Lynn : 
but by a calculation made in February, 1795, it ap- 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 295 

peared that two hundred master workmen, and six hun- 
dred journeymen and apprentices are constantly employed 
in this business, who make annually about 300,000 pairs 
of shoes, which are exported chiefly by the manufac- 
turers to the southern markets. One man, Mr. Bo 
Johnson, from his own workshop, in the course of seven 
months, shipped 20,600 pairs of shoes, valued at 4,9561. 
6s. exclusive of large numbers sold in the vicinity. 

Silk and thread lace of an elegant texture are manu- 
factured by women and children, in large quantities, in 
the town of Ipswich, in Essex county, and sold for 
use and exportation in Boston and other mercantile 
towns. This manufacture, if properly regulated and 
encouraged might be productive of great and extensive 
advantages. In the year 1790, no less than 41,979 yards 
were made in this town ; and the quantity it is supposed 
has been since considerably increased. 

A wire manufactory has lately been erected, at a con- 
siderable expense in Dedham, in Norfolk county, for 
the purpose of drawing wire for the use of the fish- 
hook and card manufactories in Boston. The essays 
which have already been made promise success. 

There are several snuff, oil, chocolate, and powder 
mills in different parts of the state, and a number of 
iron works and slitting mills, besides other mills in 
common use in great abundance for sawing lumber, 
grinding grain, and fulling cloth. 

There were in 1792, sixty-two distilleries in this 
state, employed in distilling from foreign materials. In 
these distilleries are 158 stills, which together contain 
102,172 gallons. Besides these there were twelve 
country stills, employed in distilling domestick mate- 
rials J but these were small. One million nine hundred 
thousand gallons have been distilled in one year, which 
at a duty of eleven cents a gallon, yield a revenue to 
the government of 209,000 dollars. In the year ending- 
June 30, 1796, 1,479,509 gallons were distilled in the 
state from foreign, and 11,490 from domestick mate- 
rials, yielding a revenue of 148,769 dollars and thirty- 
six cents. 

A brick pyramidical glass house was erected in Bos- 
ton, by a company of gentlemen, in 1789. This has 
since been pulled down, and another erected on a new 
plan. For want of workmen skilled in the business, 
their works were not put in operation effectually till 
November, 1792: and have since been interrupted by 



^96 ©N AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

the transformation of the building. The glass here 
manufactured is much superiour to any ever imported 
and finds a ready sale, being as cheap, according to its 
quality. There is manufactured about nine hundred 
sheets in a week, each sheet worth about one dollar and 
seventy-five cents ; amounting per annum, to about 
seventy-six thousand dollars. As there is an abundance 
of the materials for this manufacture at command, there 
can be little doubt of its being carried to such an ex- 
tent in the course of a few years, as to preclude foreign 
importations, which will make a vast saving to our 
country. Every friend to his country must wish that 
the patriotick company, which have established this 
manufacture, might meet with such success as to have 
their expenses reimbursed, which have been very great. 

BRIDGES IN MASSACHUSETTS. 

Charles River Bridge, was built in 1786-7. It is 
1563 feet long, and leads from Boston to Charleston, 
It has 75 piers, with a draw in the middle for the passage 
of vessels. Each pier is composed of seven sticks of 
oak timber, united by a cap piece, strong braces and 
girts, and afterwards driven into the bed of the river, 
and firmly secured by a single pile on each side, driveu 
obliquely to a solid bottom. The piers are connected 
to each other by large strong pieces, which are covered 
with four inch plank. The bridge is forty-three feet 
wide, and has a passage of six feet width railed in for 
foot passengers. It has a gradual rise from each end, 
and is two feet higher in the middle than at the ex- 
tremities It is illuminated, when necessary by forty 
lamps. The draw requires but two men to raise it. At 
the highest tides the water rises twelve or fourteen feet; 
the floor of the bridge is then about four feet above 
the water. The depth of vrater in the channel is, at 
low water twenty-seven feet. 

Maiden Bridge across Mystick River, connecting 
Charlestown with Maiden, was begun in April 1787, 
and was opened for passengers the September following. 
This bridge, including the abutments, is 2420 feet long 
and thirty-two feet wide. It has a draw of thirty feet 
wide. Its expense 5,3001. 

Essex Bridge is upwards of 1500 feet in length, was 
erected in 1789, and connects Salem with Beverly. The 
expense of this bridge is said not to have exceeded one- 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 397 

third part of that of Charles River Bridge, and yet it is 
esteemed equal in strength and superiour in beauty 
to the former. 

A bridge over Merrimack river was planned and cori- 
ttructed by Mr. Timothy Palmer of Newbury port, the 
architect in building the celebrated bridge over the 
Schuylkill, to be described hereafter, was built in 1792. 
The river is divided into two branches, at the place in 
which this bridge is erected. An arch of 160 feet dia- 
meter and forty feet above the level of high water con- 
nects this island with the main on one side. The channel 
on the other side is wider, but the centre arch is but 
113 feet diameter. Great ingenuity is discovered in 
the construction of this bridge. 

We shall pass over several bridges of less magnitude 
and end our sketch of the bridges in Massachusetts, 
with that which connects Boston with Cambridge. The 
wood part of this is 3,500 feet in length. The cause- 
wa\^, on the Cambridge side is 3640 feet, making toge- 
ther nearly one mile and a third. It is supported by 
piers, and has a draw for the passage of vessels, and is 
much the longest and one of the most expensive bridges 
in the United States. 

A bridge which promised to be no ways inferiour to 
any abovementioned has been begun in order to connect 
the south part of Boston with Dorchester Point. We 
have not, however, learned whether it is completed, and 
are not able at this time, to give a particular descrip- 
tion of its plan. 

MANUFACTURES IN RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE 

PLANTATIONS. 

A cotton manufactory has been erected itn Rhode- 
Island, in which the warps are spun by water, with a 
machine, which is an improvement on that of Arkwright; 
and strong, smooth, and excellent yarn is thus made, 
both for warps and stockings. The filling of the cot- 
ton goods is spun with jennies. In these several works 
five carding machines are employed, and a calender, 
constructed after the European manner. Jean, fustians, 
durins, thicksets, velvets, &c. &c. are here manufac- 
tured, and sent to the southern states. Large quantities 
of linen and tow cloth are made in different parts of 
this state for exportation. The most considerable ma- 
nufactures in this state are those of iron, such as bar 



298 ON AMERICAN MASUfACTURES 

and sheet iron, steel, nail rods and nails, implementi 
of husbandry, stoves, pots and other household uten- 
sils, the iron work of shipping, anchors, bells, &c. 
The other manufactures of this state are rum, spirits, 
chocolate, paper, wool and cotton cards, &c. besides 
domestick manufactures for family use, which in this, 
in common with other states, amount to a vast sum, 
which cannot be ascertained. 

Iron ore is found in great plenty, in several parts of 
this state. The iron works on Patuxet river, twelve 
miles from Providence are supplied with ore from a bed 
four miles and a half distant. The ore pits are cleared 
of water by a steam engine, constructed and made at 
the furnace under the direction of the late John Brown, 
Esq. of Providence, which continues a very useful mo- 
nument of his mechanical genius. 

In Providence are two spermaceti works, a number 
of distilleries and sugar houses. 

On Pawtucket falls in this state are three anchor 
forges, one tanning mill, one flour mill, one slitting 
mill, one clothiers' works, the shearing performed by 
water, three snuff mills, one oil mill, one cotton ma- 
nufactory, three fulling mills, and two machines for 
cutting nails, all moved by water. Besides a machine 
for cutting screws, a furnace for casting hollow ware, 
and various forges.* 

MANUFACTURES IN CONNECTICUT. 

We learn from Dr. Morse, that considerable atten- 
tion has been paid in this state to the culture of silk, 
with a fair prospect of eventual success. A woollen 
manufactory has been established in Hartford, but is said 
to be on the decline. Mr. Chittenden of New Haven, 
about the year 1784, invented a machine for bending and 
cutting card teeth. This machine is put in motion by 
a mandril, twelve inches in length and one in diameter. 
Connected with the mandril are six parts of the machine 
independent of each other ; the first introduces a certain 
length of wire into the chops of the corone ; the second 
shuts the chops and holds fast the wire in the middle 
until it is finished ; the third cuts off the wire ; the 
fourth doubles the tooth in proper form ; the fifth makes 
the last bend; and the sixth delivers the finished tooth 
from the machine. The mandril is moved by a band 

' Morse. 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 299 

wheel, five feet in diameter, turned by a crank. One 
revolution of the mandril makes one tooth ; ten are 
made in a second, and 86,000 in an hour. With one 
machine like this, teeth enough might be made to fill 
cards sufficient for all the card manufactories in New 
England. 

In New Haven are linen and button manufactories ; 
and a cotton manufactory lately established on a large 
scale. In East-Hartford are glass works, a snuff and 
powder mill, iron works, and a slitting mill. Iron 
works are established also at Salisbury, Norwich, and 
other parts of the state. At Stafford is a furnace at 
which are made large quantities of hollow ware and 
other ironmongery. There are paper mills at Norwich, 
Hartford, New Haven, and in Litchfield county, and 
oil mills of a new and ingenious construction, in va- 
rious parts of the state. Very great improvements 
have likewise been made in New Haven in the manu- 
facture of fire arms, of which we have not yet been 
able to obtain a particular description. 

Turnpike Roads : From Norwich through Plainfield to 
Providence ; from Norwich through Lebanon to Col- 
chester, &c. to Hartford ; from Hartford, to Mans- 
field, Pomfret to the Massachusetts line, and thence 
through Dedham to Boston ; from Hartford to Bos- 
ton ; from Hartford, through Berlin and Walling« 
ford to New Haven ; from New Haven to Litchfield, 
and from Litchfield to Hartford. 

MANUFACTURES AND AGRICULTURE Iljf THE STATE OF 

NEW YORK. 

In the city of New York are manufactured wheel 
carriages of all kinds, and besides the more common 
manufactories there are those of loaf sugar, potters' 
ware, umbrellas, and musical instruments of different 
kinds. 

Glass works and iron works have been established in 
various parts of the country. Works of this kind on a 
very extensive scale are situated ten miles west of Al- 
bany. They consist of one large new glass house, and 
one old one, a saw mill, pounding mill, and a cross-cut 
mill. The manufacturers live around these works, con- 
stituting a little village of about thirty houses. These 
works, with about 13,000 acres of land adjoining are the 
property of three enterprising, and publick spirited gen- 



300 ^ ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

tlemen. They work three furnaces, employ thirteen glass 
blowers, and make on an average, 20,000 feet of glass 
in a month, besides bottles and flint glass. The pro- 
prietors use kelp instead of pearl ashes in the manufac- 
ture of glass. 

A society for the promotion of agriculture, arts and 
manufactures, was founded in New York, in the year 
1791, whose researches promise to be of great publick 
utility. Of this society the following gentlemen were 
elected officers. 

The hon. Robert R. Livingston, president^ 
The hon John Sloss Hobart, vice president^ 
Alexander M. Comb, Esq. treasurer^ 
John McKesson, Esq. secretary. 

There have been, in this state, some late attempts by 
a Mr. Fulton, to drive boats by steam, which I fear 
have not yet proved of much consequence. Boats con- 
structed on similar principles were attempted to be 
driven on the Duke of Bridgewater's canal in England. 
The fuel and the machinery occupied so great a space that 
little was left for passengers and other purposes. Be- 
sides, in a,n open river, in a storm, one wheel may 
be out of water and the other have but a momentary 
and precarious hold, in consequence of the heelings as 
mariners say, and rocking of the vessel. 

I would, however, not wish to discourage further at- 
tempts to introduce navigation by steam, and have made 
these observations with the best will towards those who 
have attempted, or are willing to encourage essays of 
the kind. 

MANUFACTURES, &C. IN NEW JERSEY. 

In TrentoH, Newark, and Elizabethtown are a num- 
ber of tanneries at which large quantities of leather are 
made, and a part of it exported to the neighbouring 
markets. In 1796, two hundred workmen were employ<*' 
ed in Newark in the manufacturing of shoes, who an- 
nually made about 100,000 shoes. Iron works are 
erected in Gloucester, Burlington, Sussex, Morris and 
other counties. In the county of Morris are no less 
than seven rich iron mines, two furnaces, two rolling 
and slitting mills, and about thirtv^ forges, containing 
from two to four fires each. These produce annually 
about four hundred and fifty tons of bar iron, 800 tons of 



AND iMPROVEMENTSo 3.01 

pigs, besides large quantities of hollow ware, sheet iron 
and nail rods. In the whole state, it is supposed are 
made yearly about 1200 tons of bar iron, 1200 do. of 
pigs, 80 do. of nail rods, exclusive of hollow ware, and 
various other castings, of which vast quantities are 
made. 

A powder nnill was erected, early in the late war by 
colonel Ford, which afforded a timely supply of that 
article at a time when its importation was impossible. 

In 1791 a manufacturing company was incorporated 
by the legislature of this state, with great privileges. 
A subscription for the encouragement of every kind of 
manufacture was opened under the patronage of the se- 
cretar)'^ of state, and the amount of 500,000 dollars was 
subscribed, and works were erected at the falls of the 
Passaick. The place in which these manufactures were 
set on foot was called Patterson^ in honour of Judge 
Patterson, then governour of New Jersey. The pro- 
prietors were disappointed in their expectations. There 
are, however, existing in this place, some promising 
manufactories of cotton and paper. 

A number of copper mines have been discovered in 
different parts of this state. One in particular situated 
between Hakinsak and Passaick rivers, near their junc- 
tion has proved very valuable. This mine was disco- 
vered in 1729. By the year 1731, Mr. Arant Schuyler, 
their proprietor, had exported 1,386 tons of ore. The 
mines were neglected during the revolutionary war. 
In the year 1793, a company was formed for the pur- 
pose of working these mines, and it is said that their 
prospects in the concern are flattering. When pure 
copper was sold in England for 75l. sterling per ton, 
this ore was shipped for England at 70l. The ore pro- 
duces above four ounces of silver to each hun- 
dred weight of copper. It is supposed that there are 
copper mines, worth exploring in Boundbrook, Plucke- 
min, Rockyhill, Woodbridge, and Brunswick. 

A correspondent of Dr. Morse gives the following 
account of a copper mine at Brunswick : 

"About the years 1748, 1749, 1750, several lumps 
of virgin copper, from five to thirty pounds weight, 
in the whole upwards of 200 pounds, were ploughed 
up in a field belonging to Philip French, Esq. within 
a quarter of a mile of New Brunswick. This induced 
Mr. Elias Boudinot, of the city of Philadelphia, to take 
a lease of Mr. French of this land, for 99 years, in or- 



302 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

der to search for copper ore, a body of which he coo* 
eluded must be contained in this bill. He took in seve- 
ral partners, and about the year 1751, opened a pit in 
the low grounds, about two or three hundred vards 
from the river. He was led to this spot by a friend 
of his, who, a little before, passincr by at three oVlock 
in the morning, observed a body of flame arise out of 
the ground, as large as a common sized man, and soon 
after die away. He drove a stake on the spot. About 
fifteen feet deep, Mr. Boudinot came to a vein of 
bluish stone, about two feet thick, between two perpen- 
dicular loose bodies of red rock ; covered with a sheet 
of pure virgin copper, a little thicker than gold leaf. 
This bluish stone was filled with sparks of virgin cop- 
per, very much like copper filings, and now and then 
a large lump of virgin copper from five to thirty pounds 
weight. He followed this vein almost thirty feet, when 
the water coming in very fast, the expense became too 
great for the company's capital. A stamping mill was 
erected, when by reducing the bluish stone to a pow= 
der, and washing it in large tubs, the stone was car- 
ried oif, and the fine copper preserved, by which means 
many tons of the purest copper were sent to England 
without ever passing through the fire ; but labour was 
too high to render it possible for the company to pro- 
ceed. Sheets of copper about the thickness of two 
pennies, and three feet square, on an average, have been 
taken from between the rocks, within four feet of the 
surface, in several parts of the hill. At about fifty or 
sixt>^ feet deep, they came to a body of fine solid ore, 
in the midst of this bluish vein, but between rocks of a 
white flinty spar, which, however, was worked out in 
a few days. These works lie now wholly neglected, 
although the vein when left was richer than ever it had 
been. There was also a very rich vein of copper ore 
discovered at Rocky Hill, in Somerset county, which 
has also been neglected from the heavy expense attend- 
ing the working of it. There have been various at- 
tempts made to search the hills beyond Boundbrook, 
known by the name of Van Home's mountain but for 
the same reason is now neglected. This mountain 
discovers the greatest appearance of copper ore of any 
place in the state. It mav be picked up on the surface 
of many parts of it. A smelting furnace was erected 
before the revolution, in the neighbourhood, by two 
gentlemen, ^ho were making considerable profit on their 



AND IMPROVEMNTS. 303 

work, until the British destroyed it in the beginning 
of the war. The inhabitants made it worth their while 
by collecting the ore from the surface and by partially 
digging into the hill to supply the furnace. Besides a 
company opened a very large shaft on the side of the 
hill, from which also a great deal of valuable ore and 
some virgin copper were taken. Two lumps of virgin 
copper were found here in the year 1754, which weighed^ 
11,900 pounds." 

A lead mine has been discovered in a place called 
Hopewell, four miles from Trenton, and plaster of 
Paris has been found in the county of Sussex. 

In the town of Newark and the one adjoining it on 
the north there are immense quarries of stone, of a 
very valuable kind, and much used in building. The 
quarries in Newark alone, it has been estimated, would 
now rent for l,000l. a year, the number of workmen 
to be limited. Their value is annually increasing. A 
slate quarry has been lately discovered in Hunterdon 
county, within 300 yards of Delaware river, 75 miles 
above Philadelphia, which it is said promises to yield 
slate of a superiour quality to any that has been disco- 
vered in the United States, and equal to any imported 
from Europe. It has been purchased by Mr. James 
Bell, who contemplates opening it. 

U. STATES C?^AZETTE. 

An excellent bridge has been built across the De« 
laware at Trenton, thirty miles above Philadelphia. 
It was begun on the twenty-first day of May, under 
the direction of Mr. Burr. The abutment on the 
Pennsylvania side is fifty feet in front, and eighteen 
feet thick, with the back part supported by an hori- 
zontal arch. The stone work was commenced on the 
third day of July, in the same year. The fronts of 
the abutments from the surface of the ground, and the 
ends, and about forty feet of the wing walls above 
the banks, are carried up with cut stone in courses of 
range work : varying in depth as they proceed up- 
wards from twenty to six inches, and battering half 
an inch in the foot. The work is in a style of sim- 
plicity but neatly executed. The cut stone in the abut- 
ments are clamped together with iron clamps to the 
greatest height of their exposure to ice and other float- 
ing substances, and in every tier of stone are a number 
«f brancli clamps, extending diagonally and crosswise 



3^04 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

'the abutment, connecting the whole together. The 
interiour is composed of large rough stone, many of 
half a ton weight and upwards, filled in with smaller 
stone, and the w^hole laid in good sand and lime mor- 
tar, forming one entire solid mass of masonry. These 
abutments are nineteen feet above the ordinary flow of 
the tide, six feet above the highest freshes from ordina- 
ry causes, and at least four feet higher than the water 
has ever been known to rise, from obstructions by ice 
on the bars below. The travelling way is still nearly 
three feet higher ; which prevents the possibility of any 
injury to the wood work by the highest freshes. 

The wing walls on the east side, at sixtv feet from 
the abutments spread seventy-eight feet. For the first 
twenty feet they run into the banks are laid as deep 
as the foundation of the abutment, and seven feet wide 
in the bottom. From the end of the angle they are 
continued in a parallel line with each other, one hundred 
and three feet further, on a gradual taper to four feet, 
where they terminate. The exteriour of this masonry 
is battered half an inch to the foot, while the interiour 
is straight, so that the filling has little or no pressure 
on the perpendicular walls, but will settle in perpendicu- 
lar lines. 

The wing walls on the west are eighty-five feet in 
length from the front of the abutments, extend about 
eighteen feet into the bank, and spread sixty-six feet 
— the width of the street leading to the bridge. 

In laying the exteriour courses of the foundations of 
the piers, great care wa? taken to select flat and long 
stones, running many feet into the piers. On these and 
through the whole interiour, are laid large rough stones 
of great weight, and the whole closely filled in with 
building stones, The depth of these foundations varies 
several feet in diff^erent parts of the piers, owing to 
the irregularities in the rock, on which they are laid, 
which furnishes additional security against ice and 
other floating substances. 

An off"set of six inches is made on these foundations, 
when the cut stone commences, the pier here receives 
its proper shape and dimensions, which, in this place, 
is sixty-eight feet in length, and twenty-two in breadth, 
with the end up stream of a semicircular form. The 
levelling up of the foundation, and all the cut stone 
are laid in terras mortar. On the pier next to the Penn- 
sylvania shore, three courses of cut stone are laid, 



ANt) IMPROVEMENTS. 305 

Hsing above the foundation to the height of four feet 
seven inches. On each of the other piers one course 
only of cut stone is laid, of twenty and twenty-two 
inches in depth : in which situation ice and every other 
floating substance will run over them during the spring 
and winter seasons. 

The span between each of the piers on the Pennsyl- 
vania side, is one hundred and ninety-four feet. From 
the New Jersey abutment to the first pier, the span is 
one hundred and fifty-six feet : the water way nine 
hundred and thirty-two feet, out of eleven hundred, the 
width of the river. 

The piers are carried up with cut stone, tapering as 
they proceed upwards from twenty-five to eight inches, 
until they rise to the top course, which is twelve inches, 
with the sides and lower end battering half an inch ia 
the foot. These stones extend into the body of the work, 
from eight inches to five feet. The exterior or cut 
stone, as high as the water has ever been known to 
rise, is laid in terras mortar; and throughout the 
whole extent, lengthways, every second or third course 
clamped together with iron clamps. Crosswise also of 
the piers, every third or fourth course, eight or more 
iron cramps are extended from the side, and let into 
courses of cut stone. These, together with a vast num- 
ber of branch clamps, it is presumed will effectually 
secure the whole from spreading or giving way in any 
direction. The ends of the piers, up stream, are semi- 
circular, and after rising four and a half feet from their 
foundations, with the usual batter of the sides, they 
recede or batter at an angle of sixty-seven degrees, 
until they rise to the further height of ten perpendicular 
feet, when they are again carried up with the former 
batter to the square, where they terminate, and receive 
their finish, with a capping of cut stone, in the form of 
a half dome. The stones of which this angular part is 
composed, are all deep in their bed, extending from two 
to five feet into the pier, and are each secured with a 
clamp of iron. At thil' point the cut stone ceases, and 
the dimensions of the piers are here sixty-two feet in 
length, and twenty, in breadth. 

An offset of eight inches is then made on the sides, 
and the squares of the piers again carried up, with a 
skew back, to the further height of three feet nine 
inches. The feet of the arches rest on this offset, and 
spring from this angle. The height of the piers next 

R t 



306 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

the shores from the foot of the arches to ordinary low 
water mark, is twenty-seven feet six inches each. The 
distance between the abutments is one thousand and eight 
feet, and the whole length of the bridge, including the 
wing walls one quarter of a mile. 

The stond work consists of one hundred and sixty-nine 
thousand, two hundred and fifty perches of- masonry. 

The managers speak in terms of the highest eulogy 
of the execution of the masonry of this bridge, and 
from the observations which the (editor has made he 
believes with them that a more solid and complete 
structure cannot be. found in the United States. 

AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, BRIDGES, &C. OF PENN- 
SYLVANIA. 

T^'he use of plaster of Paris is very common in this 
state, and has proved highly beneficial in some soils. 
A tract which conveys much valuable information on 
this subject was published in 1797 ^ by the hon. Richard 
Peters. The mode which was adopted by the author 
of obtaining correct information respecting the opera- 
tion of this manure was extremely well calculated for 
that object. A number of queries relative to the opera- 
tion of this powerful manure w^ere sent to some of the 
principal agriculturists in this and some of the neigh- 
bouring states, and their answers inserted in this tract 
together with some very judicious observations of the 
author. At the close of the book are inserted a num- 
ber of miscellaneous observations which are well worth 
the attention of all concerned in the cultivation of the 
soil. 

The writer, from the result of a great nun\ber of ex- 
periments, Vv^hich appear to have been carefully made 
and accurately noted, concludes gypsum to be a '^ whim- 
sical and capricious substance." He says that he *' has 
known it produce no effect for four years, and then 
throw up a most astonishing vegetation ; and this after 
repeat.ed ploughings, for both siinimer and winter crops." 

One fact, however, has been observed by judge Pe- 
ters, which perhaps explains the true theory of the action 
of gypsum, and leads us to a knowledge of its extra- 
ordinary fertilizing properties. Whatever be the cause 
he observes, that "• detu wnll remain on a part of a grass field 
plastered an hour or two in the morning, after all the 
'mpistare is evaporated from the part of the same field 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 307 

not plastered, I have also frequently seen this effect 
upon garden beds, which if plastered will retain moisture 
in the driest season, when there is not the least ap- 
pearance of it in those beds whereon no plaster was 
strewed." 

From this and many other appearances and facts, 
which tend to explain the operation of this extraordina- 
ry substance, it would seem very evident that gypsum 
attracts moisture from the atmosphere. On cold and 
moist lands, and even on any species of soil not extremely 
arid, in a wet season gypsum may exhibit too powerful 
an affinity for water to be serviceable to vegetation, 

Pennsylvania is about on a par with her sister states, 
with respect to agricultural improvements. The far- 
mers in general are not prone to theorising or making- 
experiments in husbandry. Wheat, several varieties, 
Indian corn of different species, barley, oats, spelts, 
buckwheat, turnips, with several species of grasses,*^ 
such as are common to most parts of United Ame- 
rica, compose their principal articles of different field 
culture. Stone buildings are common among farmers in 
this state, but stone fences are rarely to be found. 

An improved mode of constructing barns is adopted 
in this state. The most perfect model of such improve- 
ment is said to be found in a barn of Mr. Samuel Gib- 
son, an intelligent farmer of Kingsess, which is thus de- 
scribed in the American edition of Dr. Rees's Cyclopaedia. 
The construction of a barn sufficient to accommodate 
a well cultivated farm of 120 acres, 40 of which may 
be supposed woodland, is as follows, 
• *' The situation should be as near the middle of the 
farm as can conveniently be, and on ground sloping to- 
ward the south, so as to admit of water being brought 
through wooden pipes, from the ground above, and 
raised in the yard, if practicable, or at least that it may 
pass through the yard. The scits should not be ntarer 
than sixty, and not furth er than a hundred yards from 
the dwelling house, as in case of fire breaking out in 
either, the other ma;^be safe : it also conduces more 
to cleanliness, and where any of the family may happen 
to be sick they will not be disturbed by the noise of the 
barn, stables, &c. The dimensions might be seventy 



* For a mere particular account of these grasses consult the work 
of Dr. Mease above quoted. 



3,08 QH AMERICAN MANUrACTURES 

feet by thirty-six ; the hill to be dug into, upon a level, 
and the earth removed to form the barn yard. The 
building to be of stone, the foundation sunk two feet 
below the level ; the walls two feet and a half thick at 
bottom, and to continue so to the height of the stable 
floors ; the ground so much sloped as to be five feet 
high where the hill is cut down, and a wall raised 
close to this, at the distance of seven feet from the 
barn, this intermediate space would admit a free cir- 
culation of air round the barn and stables below j over 
this a gangway is to be raised, leading into the barn 
floor; an excavation may also be made into the 
hill, under this, to which a door through the aforesaid 
wall may convenientiy lead, which will form a very 
suitable place for the stowing away potatoes and other 
vegetables. The stables to be seven feet in the clear ; 
and the wall, two feet thick, set right on the middle of 
the wall below. From that to the square of the barn 
the thickness may be reduced three inches on each side, 
and carried up twenty feet above the stables. Above 
this the gable ends may be raised fifteen feet, which 
will give sufficient slope to the roof, which ought to be 
covered with the best cedar shingles or slate. The 
ground area below may be divided into four spaces for 
cattle, horses, &c, none of which divisions ought to be 
Jess than tv/elve feet wide, with one entry between the 
two rows of creatures, whose heads should be towards 
the entry. The foundations of the partitions a stone 
wall eighteen inches thick, rising ten or tv/elve inches 
at least above the floor, on which a frame of wood 
work should rise to the joists. The stable floors, paved 
with pebble stones, descending from the troughs j with 
a like descent towards the door. The advantages of 
such a floor are, that it will not harbour rats and other 
vermin, and is durable ; the hardness ought to be no 
objection, as plenty of bedding should be furnished, for 
the purpose of increasing the quantity of dung. Raise 
the barn floor seven feet above the bottom of the hay- 
mow, which will leave twelve feet for the height of the 
barn floor, which ought also to be its breadth. The 
advantages of raising it thus are many : the labour of 
pitching your hay is very much reduced ; you acquire a 
good room between that and the stables for stowing 
grain, &c. The labour of raising the entrance to the 
barn floor is trifling in comparison with the labour pf 
pitching it would otherwise occasion ; and if the ground 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 309 

rises with a considerable angle, backwards, the difficulty 
of raising the gangway will be still less. The bam floor 
should be laid with three inch oak plank, well seasoned : 
each plank ploughed with a half inch iron, within an 
inch of the lower edge, and a strip put in each joint, 
which will keep the whole completely firm and solid, 
and effectually prevent dust, &c. from getting through ; 
it might also be an advantage to have glass windows 
in the granary and back of the barn floor, the sides of 
which may be defended by the boards, which form the 
sicies of the granaries next the hay-mows and ought to 
rise four feet above the threshing floor. Fixed ladders 
above the barn floor are also convenient to get at the 
hay above. In each hay-mow a square hole of four 
feet must be run up, from the entry below to the top of 
the mow, and framed to prevent the hay from stopping 
it up. These will serve a two-fold purpose, that of 
conveying hay to feed with and as ventilators. It may 
also be observed, that the stable and entry doors ought 
all to be arched, and the hinges and fastenings of all 
the doors, of iron, built into the wall, in the simple form 
of hooks and eyes, the hook making part of the hinge, 
the stable floor should also be as high as the sill of the 
dcor, and ascending back. 

Round stone pillars two and a half feet in diameter 
may be raised at equal distances from each other in 
front of the stables, and eight feet apart, these may be 
made as high as the stable doors, upon which a frame 
might be erected to such a height as to be conveniently 
covered by the general roof; which would form an 
excellent corn house, and would also shade the stable 
doors. Steps should be placed under this frame, leading 
into it, and also into the granary under the barn floor. 
This frame or corn house, should be so high from the 
ground as to admit a cart or wagon below it ; and should 
also have an opening in the floor, to pour the corn 
down. The main entry to the corn house to be through 
the threshing floor. 

A barn built upon these principles would produce a 
saving of at least one hand daily, in the single article 
of pitching hay, as one man may haul and tumble into 
the barn as much hay as three would stow away in the 
usual way, which is of considerable consequence in 
harvest time, when work is pressing. One man will 
pitch the hay from the v/agon, on the barn floor, up to 
the whole square of the barn, as fast as two or three can 



310 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

Stow it away ; whereas, in the common way of building 
barns, it would take two to pitch it up. Indeed it might 
be questioned whether it would not be an advantage to 
raise the floor still higher, on this account, as pitching 
hay is the hardest part of stowing it away ; this would 
also increase the size of the granaries. To this some 
might object, on account of its rising above the square 
of the barn, but this is nothing when put in competi- 
tion with the advantages to be derived from the facility 
of pitching, as the roof may readily be formed so as to 
admit of it. 

Objections have been made against stone barns, as 
not being sufficiently airy, and being damp, so as to 
injure the grain ; inconveniences more imaginary than 
otherwise, and which the writer of these observations 
has never experienced ; but which if they did exist might 
soon be remedied, by plastering the outside of the north 
east end of the building, and projecting a penthouse 
from the square, which, if attended to, and a sufficient 
number of windows left, all of which that are under the 
eves, and otherwise not exposed, having Venetian blinds, 
with a large ventilator on the top of the roof, on which 
may be fixed a lightning rod ; such precautions will most 
assuredly prove the superiority of such a stone barn to all 
others." 

In Philadelphia, together with numerous other socie- 
ties and associations, an account of which it would be 
foreign to our plan to give, are the Amei'ican Philoso- 
phical Society^ for the encouragement of rnamifactures and 
the useful arts^ and the Society for the Promotion of 
Agriculture, 

The American Philosophical Society was founded in 
the year 1769. Its officers are one patron, one president, 
three vice presidents, one treasurer, four secretaries, 
and three curators. 

The members are elected by ballot on the third Fri- 
day of the months of January, April, July, and Octo- 
ber, and in order to such election at least twenty 
members must be present. This society has published 
some volumes of " Transactions^^"* in which some very 
scientifick and useful treatises have been presented 
to the publick. 

The Society for the promotion of Agriculture have 
not yet made publick their proceedings, although we 
are informed that they have that measure in contem- 
plation. 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 3ll, 

The Philadelphia Manufacturing Society is of recent 
origin. By their constitution the capital stock of the 
company shall consist of 50,000 dollars, to be divided 
into shares of fifty dollars each. Five dollars are to be 
paid at subscribing, and the remainder in regular instal- 
ments. In case of non-payment of the instalments the 
delinquent forfeits his share or shares to the use of the 
company, together with #hat sum he may have pre- 
viously paid. 

A general meeting of the stockholders of the com- 
pany is to be holien on the iirst Wednesday of January 
every year, fifteen days notice being previously given 
in the publick papers. 

The affairs of this company are under the superin- 
tendance of nine managers, who elect one of their 
number president of the association. They propose to 
apply by petition to the state legislature for an act 
of incorporation. 

Bridges, Those which are most worthy of notice 
are the Schuylkill bridge at the west end of Market- 
street, one over the same river at Reading, those over 
the river Lehigh at Bethlehem, Weis's ferry, and one 
near its discharge into the Delaware. We shallattempt 
a description of the first mentioned only.* 

The Schuylkill which washes the western front of the 
city of Philadelphia, although it affords great advan- 
tages, had long been attended with many serious incon- 
veniences. The frequent interruption of passage b}" 
ice and floods, and the ineffectual and uncertain mode 
of crossing heretofore practised, had for a long course 
of years, employed the thoughts and attention of manv 
ingenious and publick spirited members of the commu- 
nity. The character of this river is wild, and in times 
of floods, rapid and formidable : and to any structure 
of slight materials, ruinous and irresistible. 

Its borders, to an extent of one hundred miles, are 
skirted by precipitous mountains and hills. Its tributary 
streams, suddenly filled, in seasons of rains or melting 
snows, with the torrents rushing down their sides, 
without notice, or time for precaution, fill the river 



* This account is abridg-ed from a very interesting and well writ- 
ten " Statistical Account of the Schuylkill Permanent Bridg-e," pub- 
lished in the Port Folio, comm.encing March 12, 1808. 



312 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

with frequent floods, which no common works of art 
within their reach have heretofore been capable of with« 
standing. Ahhough these attributes are not to a certain 
degree uncommon, yet, in this river, they are peculiarly- 
dangerous. They occur at irregular periods, and often 
at seasons of the year when floods are generally unex- 
pected. These circumstances, at all times, created 
doubts of the practicability of any permanent erection. 
The depth of water, opposite the city, added to the 
difficulties and apprehensions. The expense, in the 
early periods of its establishment precluded anv plan, 
requiring large expenditures by those who then inha- 
bited Philadelphia. In March, 1723, a law was enacted 
by the governour. Sir William Keith, and the general 
assembly, for the purpose of establishing a ferry over 
the Schuylkill, at the end of High street, Philadelphia. 
Tolls were then established, which the present rates do 
not in any case far exceed ; and in many cases, i. e. 
for country produce and manure, they are liberally re- 
duced. 

In December 1776, when the British troops had over- 
run the state of New Jersey, a bridge was composed 
of ship carpenters' floating stages, built by general Put- 
nam at the suggestion of Richard Peters, Esq, which 
the defeats of the British auxiliaries at Trenton rendered 
unnecessary for military purposes. This, however, 
gave the first idea of the floating bridges over the 
Schuylkill, composed of buoyant logs. 

A bridge was constructed by the British army in 
1777, on pontons, or large boats. This, however, not 
fully answering their purpose, another was built of 
floating logs, after the pattern of the one which suc- 
ceeded the bridge of stages. One of the pontons used 
by the British was sunk, and remained deposited on the 
bottom in such manner as to cause very great obstruc- 
tions in the way of two piles of the coffer dam^ sunk 
for the erection of the western pier of the present 
permanent bridge. This boat was sunk in 1777, ia 
twenty-eight feet water below low water mark, and was 
found to be perfectly sound in 1802. The obstruction 
which it presented to the completion of the coffer dam 
was the cause of an extra expense of four thousand 
dollars. 

After stating a number of projects which were pro- 
posed, but rejected as impracticable or impossible, the 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 313 

Writer of whose labours we avail ourselves in forming 
this article, proceeds : 

" In theory, it seems reconcilable with principles, that 
an arch of wood or iron, may be extended to any length 
of span, with sufficient elevation. The point of either 
practicability or discretion, has never been precisely 
fixed. In a modern proposal for a single arch of iron^ 
over the Thames, in place of old London bridge, a 
project is exhibited for an arch of 600 feet span. All 
agree in the theory, but practical men shrink at the 
danger; though there are respectable opinions of intel- 
ligent theorists, in favour of its principles. According 
to the best opinions of practical men here (among them 
Mr. Weston and Mr. Palmer) one of two hundred feet 
begins to be critical and hazardous. The timber arch 
of Piscataway bridge, erected by Mr. Palmer, spans 
244 feet ; but he declared he would not again attempt 
one of similar extent. The most intelligent among those 
who have gained experience in the late structure, believe 
that the plan intended for the Schuylkill, in the last pro- 
ject, the draft whereof has been often seen by them, 
was too extended for thh spot; and that it would most 
probably have failed. The weight of transportation 
here is uncommon and constant, and the friction of 
course incessant. Strength, symmetry, and firmness, 
are required here ; of which one very extended arch 
is incapable. Although wood or iron may be so 
framed, as to have the least possible drift or lateral 
thrust^ on the abutments or piers, yet there is a point 
beyond which it is dangerous to pass. Of stone or brick 
it would be adventurous, beyond all common discretion 
to risk an arch of such a span. Nor is the undulatory 
motion of an extensive arch, however composed, an 
unimportant objection. 

A bridge of so extended a span must have been (to 
be safe) so much more elevated, that the filling would 
have pressed the walls too dangerously. Some relief 
might have been given by culverts, or reversed arches, 
to save filling ; but these are not without their disad- 
vantages. The pressure on the walls of the present 
western abutment and wings, is quite as much as mason- 
ry on piles will bear ; and no other foundation could 
have been had, but at an unwarrantable expense, the 
rock at the scite of the abutment, being covered with 
mud and gravel 30 to 40 feet deep. It was deemed and 
found prudent, to sink the whole frame of the present 

s s 



314 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

structure, three feet into the piers, and imposts of the 
abutments, as well to avoid over-weight of filling, as 
to depress the platform, or travelling floor, to a point 
easy of access. An approach of the abutments, for an 
arch of 400 feet span, would have created a necessity 
(not known when such a plan was proposed) for coffer 
dams, and all their dangers and expense. The present 
bridge enlarges the passage for the water at least a fifth. 
One for an arch of 300 to 350 feet, would have diminish- 
ed it in a greater proportion ; because the abutments 
must have approached each other, so as to occupy the 
position now open, through the land or side arches. 

" No persons engaged in such difficult works, should 
risk any project to save expense of foundations, for 
piers or abutments. But on the other hand, coffer dams 
should be avoided, if any other means can, with com- 
mon prudence, be adopted. Their expense is enormous, 
and their success not always to be ensured. The great 
proportion of the expenditures in the Schuylkill bridge, 
has been incurred by the inevitable necessity for coffer 
dams. — The labour applied, and the difficulties encoun- 
tered and overcome, will appear to the best informed 
engineers, uncommon and singularly arduous, as will 
appear by the short account of them subjoined to the 
present statement. Every effort was made to avoid the 
necessity of these dams, but on duly weighing all the 
projects suggested, none could be adopted with any 
prospect of safety. The irregularity of the bottom, 
and depth of water, at once were found to forbid the 
use of batterdeaus. Floats were thought of, com- 
posed of a platform of logs, on which masonry should 
be formed. These were to be built on, with logs at 
the sides, and others crossing the whole, bolted like 
wharves ; filled in with masonry, and raised on as they 
fcunk, till having lodged on the bottom, they should 
compose the foundation for masonry, from low water 
mark. Bat no horizontal, or solid position could be 
obtained for them. All the objections to batterdeaus 
lay against them. A flood too, might have carried 
them off in an unfinished state. This was proved, when 
a few of the belts of the cofler dam (light and buoyant, 
compared to these floats, and more easily secured) 
were swept away by a summer fresh ; though they 
had been supported by some piles, and moored with 
anchors and cables, capable of holding a stout frigate. 
The levelling the bottom, or making one artificially (as 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 315 

was done by Semple at the Essex bridge in Dublin) was 
found impracticable, on account of the thick cover (13 
feet) of mud in some parts, and the total bareness and 
unevenness of the rock in others. It became a choice 
of difficulties ; and the coffer dam, or no bridge, was 
the alternative. Projects easily and cheaply to be ac- 
complished in shallow streams, with level bottoms, or 
those capable of being artificially made so, were all 
found impracticable, and to the last degree imprudent 
here. The modes pursued in New England, either of 
piles, wharves, log frames, or stones loosely thrown 
into the stream, were considered and condemned. The 
destruction of many of the bridges of that country was 
predicted ; but with a hope that this apprehension might 
prove unfounded, as the enterprises of the people thera 
were admired and applauded. Sounds, or arms of the 
sea, sheltered from violent storms, broad rivers, capable 
of holding piles, and affording extensive fiats, for over- 
flows and waste of floods, will admit of slighter founda- 
tions, though always exposed to danger, under uncom- 
mon circumstances. Many of the sites of eastern 
bridges are of this description. 

The general wish of the stockholders, at the com- 
mencement of the project, was strongly in favour of a 
stone bridge. A draft of a stone structure, elegant, 
plain practicable, and adapted to the site, with very 
minute and important instructions for its execution, was 
furnished to the president gratuitously, by William 
Weston, Esq. of Gainsborough in England ; a very able 
and scientifick hydraulick engineer, who was then here, 
and from friendly and disinterested motives, most li- 
berally contributed his professional knowledge and in- 
formation, to promote the success of the company. The 
foundations of the present piers and abutments, were 
laid nearly according to his plan, though circumstances 
compelled a considerable departure from it, as the 
work advanced. His communications were attended to 
with great advantage, wheresoever they could be applied. 
Having viewed the inefficiency of the eastern coffer 
dam — in the same spirit of liberality, he furnished the 
president, a draft for the western coffer dam, before 
his departure for England. This plan was original, and 
calculated for the spot on which it was to be placed. 
It was faithfully and exactly executed under the care of 
Samuel Robinson, who was then superintendent of the 
company's work in wood. Mr. Weston foresaw great 



316 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

risks and difficulties, arising from the peculiar charac- 
ter of the river, and the nature of its bottom, in so 
great a depth of water. He declared, that he should 
hesitate to risk his professional character on the event, 
though he was convinced that the whole success of the 
enterprise depended upon, and required, the attempt. 
Some ideas of its magnitude may be formed, when it 
is known that 800,000 feet (board measure) of timber 
were employed in its execution, and the accommoda- 
tions attached to it. Sufficient in quantity for a ship of 
the line. 

But it was soon discovered that the expense of erect- 
ing a stone bridge, would far exceed any sum, the re- 
venue likely to be produced would justify. For this 
reason alone, no further progress was made in the stone 
bridge plan. And though some other drafts, among 
them a very elegant one by Mr. Latrobe, were presented, 
the board of directors were under the necessity of re- 
turning them, as being objects, however desirable, too 
expensive to be executed with private funds, It was 
therefore concluded to procure plans of a bridge to be 
composed of stone piers and abutments, and a super- 
structure of either wood or iron. — Mr. Weston at the 
request of the president and directors, sent from England 
(after viewing most of the celebrated bridges there, 
and adding great improvements of his own) a draft of 
an iron superstructure, in a very superiour style ; yet 
with his usual attention to utility, strength, and econo- 
in)^, accompanied by models and instructions. Although 
highly approved, it was not deemed prudent to attempt 
its execution. All our workmen here, are unacquainted 
with such operations ; and it vvas thought too hazardous 
to risque the first experiment. 

The casting can be done cheaper here, than in En- 
gland, and with metal of a better qualit}^, though the 
amount of the erection would in the whole, far exceed 
one of wood. Mr. Weston's draft is preserved, and 
may yet be executed in some part of the United States ; 
and it would do honour to those who could accomplish 
it. Finally, the plan so successfully perfected was agreed 
to ; having been furnished by Mr. Timothy Palmer of 
Newburyport in Massachusets, a self-taught architect, 
who was employed to execute the work of the frame. 
He brought with him Mr. Carr, as his second, and four 
other workmen from New England. They at once 
evinced superiour intelligence and adroitness, in the bu- 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 317 

siness, which was found to be a peculiar art, acquired 
by habits not promptly gained, by even good workmen 
in other branches of framing in wood. — But the ma- 
terials and workmanship of this frame, arc allowed to 
be remarkably faultless and excellent. It is also an evi- 
dence of prudence, in the president and directors, in 
selecting a plan already practised upon, and workmen 
accustomed to its execution. 

Previous to the decision upon the superstructure, the 
piers^ without a certainty of the stability whereof, no 
superstructure could be attempted, were begun ; with 
the intent, that when their completion was ensured, 
the stockholders might be justified with confidence to 
proceed in the work. There being no general engineer, 
the president and directors were under the necessity of 
paying more attention, than is usually required in such 
cases. The president, with the assistance of a building 
committee, undertook the charge of the execution of 
this arduous work, requiring much attention as well in 
the outline as in its minute details. 

The president suggested, with the approbation of the 
committee, important parts of the plans of the masonry, 
and modes of securing the dams ; and several improve- 
ments in the plan of the frame, which were adopted by 
Mr. Palmer ; and occasioned a material difference from 
those in New England, and elsewhere, erected on simi- 
lar principles. 

The president's proposition and general design of the 
cover, were approved and reported by the committee. 
The opinions of a very great proportion of the Stock- 
holders were at first opposed to this measure ; though 
when perfectly understood, it was unanimously agreed 
to. Its novelty excited doubts and apprehensions, which 
time, and many violent assaults from storms, have proved 
to have been groundless. It will long remain an example 
for future similar undertakings ; and is the only covered 
wooden bridge in the world, a much inferiour one 
over the Limmat, in the north of Europe, excepted.* 

Mr. Adam Traquair has merit in the draft of the 
cover, which he assisted to delineate. It was executed 
with singular fidelity and credit, by Mr. Owen Biddle, 
an ingenious carpenter and architect of Philadelphia ; 
who made additions to the design. He published an 



'his was before the Trenton bridge was completed. 



318 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

architectural work, entitled " The Young Carpenter's 
Assistant ;" useful as an elementary guide, and which 
should be encouraged as an American production. In 
it will be seen a plate of this bridge, and a concise ac- 
count of it ; some parts whereof are herein repeated. 

The whole of the masonry was performed bv Mr. 
Thomas Vickers, who possesses not only integrity and 
practical skill, but is firm, constant, and prudently bold 
in hazardous undertakings. His exertions were con- 
spicuous on every emergency and casualty attending the 
dams, and other dangerous and difficult parts of the 
work. 

Those who, with the president, composing the building 
committee particularly, as well as the other members of 
the board, and the treasurer, meritoriously afforded 
everr requisite assistance ; as well when their aid was 
necessary in the executive business, as in a laudable at- 
tention to its pecuniary affairs. It alwavs happens in 
such associations, that some pay more attention, and 
thereby gain and apply more useful intelligence than 
others. 

It would be unpardonable, not to mention the stock- 
holders, with high approbation. Their advances have 
been great, and their patience under privations of profit 
truly commendable. The amount of expenditures is 
nearly 300,000 dollars, though the dividends will be 
made on a much less sum (about 218,000 dollars) ovv*- 
ing to the application of the floating bridge tolls, to the 
expense of the building. The company have evidenced 
a praiseworthy mixture of publick spirit, with a justifia- 
ble desire of pecuniary advantages ; in which it is to be 
ardently wished, they will not be disappointed. Although 
these advantages may be delayed, they are ultimately 
secured. Not the least gratifying, must be the satis- 
faction arising from the accomplishment of a publick 
improvement eminently beneficial, at well in its use as 
its example, not only to those, who now enjoy its ac- 
commodation, but to posterity. 

Few would have persevered under all the difiicultles 
attending this work ; which in Its execution (unavolda- 
blv protracted bv the embarrassments attendant on build- 
ing under water) cccuped six years after the law was 
obtained. However humble the merit of those who 
engage in such undertakings may be considered, they 
are far greater contributors to the happiness and con- 
venience of mankind, than those who, with victories 



AND IMPROVEMENTS, 319 

and triumphs, dazzle while they desolate, and ruin and 
oppress the human race. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE BRIDGE. 

The masonry is executed on a plan suggested to the 
mason, uncommon, if not new. The walls of the abut- 
ments and wings, are perpendicular, without buttresses, 
and supported by interiour offsets. These are found 
completely competent to support the pressure of the 
filling (which gravitates in perpendicular lines) without 
battering or contreforts. The abutments are eighteen 
feet thick. 

. The wing walls nine feet at the foundations, retiring 
bv offsets, till at the parapets, they are only eighteen 
inches. The eastern abutment and wing walls are 
founded on a rock. Those on the western side are 
built on piles. The inclined plane of approach to the 
bridge, is elevated at an angle of three and a half de- 
grees. 

Although the western pier has attracted most atten- 
tion, that on the eastern side of the river, was first 
erected j and v/as attended with difficulties appearing 
often insurmountable. It is from twenty-one to twenty- 
four feet deep, below the tide, to the rock, on which 
the lower course is laid and bolted. The coffer dam 
was on a bad plan, though constructed as well as that 
plan admitted. Its materials were too slight and incom- 
petent. Constant exertion, and repeated remedies for 
defects, were incessantly called for by frequent accidents. 
Every thing was new to all employed ; but it was a 
school to teach experience. The footing of the piles 
was secured, and the dam saved from impending de- 
struction, by an embankment of stone and sand, thrown 
around the bottom on its outside ; and the latter washed 
in, and consolidated by the current. The same means 
were used at the western dam, and their utility decided- 
ly proved. Both piers are of course similar in their 
general configuration and composition. The first stone 
of the eastern pier was laid September 5th, 1801. That 
of the western pier, December 25th, 1802. The time 
preceding was occupied in procuring plans, gaining in- 
formation, and providing materials. These precautions 
(always essential in great undertakings) forwarded the 
work, and ensured against delay and disappointment. 



320 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

The frame is a masterly piece of workmanship ; com- 
bining in its principles, that of king posts and braces, 
or trusses, with those of a stone arch. Half of each 
post, with the brace between them, will form the vous- 
seur of an arch ; and lines through the middle of each 
post, would describe the radii or joints. There are 
three sections of the frame, all similar. That in the 
middle divides the space into two equal parts, so that 
passengers in opposite directions, are prevented from 
interfering with each other. 

The platform for travelling rises only eight feet from 
a horizontal line, and the top, or cap pieces, are paral- 
lel to this. Of the sections, the middle one has the 
most pressure, owing to the weight of transportation, 
being thrown nearer to that section than towards the 
sides ; to which the foo.t-ways prevent its approach. 
These foot ways are five feet in width, elevated above 
the carriage ways, and neatly protected with turned 
posts and chains. It has been conceived that the foot 
ways would have been more advantageously placed on 
each side the middle section, to throw the weight of 
transportation to the sides of the bridge. 

INIr. Palmer (who is believed to be the original in- 
ventor of this kind of Av^ooden bridges) permitted with 
much candour, considerable alterations in the plan, 
accommodato.ry to the intended cover, the design where- 
of is original. These were so much approved bv him, 
that he considers the Schuylkill bridge superstructure 
the most perfect of any he has built. It was finished 
in one season ; and declared open for passengers and 
transportation, on the first day of January, 1805. 

The SchaufFhausen bridge (which is now destroyed) 
much eulogised in Europe, v/as by no means equal to 
that on the Schuylkill. Any candid and intelligent ar- 
chitect, on inspecting the drafts of the one, examining 
the other, and the principles of both, would give a 
decided preference to the latter. The design of this 
is more simple, its strength is greater, its parts are 
better combined, and more assistant to each other : 
and there is no useless timber in any part. 

The timber of which both the frame and the cover 
are composed (the roof, of cedar excepted) is of the 
best v/hite pine. 

The flooring of the platform is doubled, and in the 
whole five and a half inches thick. The under course 
of white pine, three inches thick, is permanent, and 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 321 

well spiked and secured. The upper course is of sap 
pitch pine, slightly attached, two and a half inches 
thick, to be renewed as often as worn, either partially 
or generally, and with this the joints are broken. This 
mode of planking has been found, on the floating bridges 
highly advantageous and economical. The under course 
admits of two or three removals of the upper, which 
wears before it decays. The floorings of wood-en bridges 
are generally of single planks. 

The exterior of tht cover is handsomely ornamented 
and painted. The under work imitative of stone, is 
well executed, by dashing the paint while fresh, with 
sand and stone dust. This is performed with so much 
ease and cheapness, that it is hoped it will introduce a 
like mode of ornamenting and protecting the surface of 
other wooden elevations. All apprehensions of scaling 
by frost, are proved to be imaginary. 

A number of conductors, properly disposed, secure 
the superstructure from danger by lightning. 

All that could be spared for ornament, was expended 
on the exterior ; as the interior neither admitted nor 
required it. — The pediments of the entrances were in- 
tended to be finished with emblems of Commerce on the 
east ; and of Agriculture, on the west. They are de- 
signed, and were to be executed, by that eminent 
American naval sculptor, William Rush of Philadelphia ; 
whose works as an artist, are admired, in whatever part 
of the world they are seen. It is desirable that this 
Jinish^ the expense whereof will be small, should yet 
be added. The pediments require it, to complete the 
design. 

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 

The Schuylkill bridge plan may be varied according 
to circumstances ; and its principles preserved. In 
whatever varieties, projectors of other designs may in- 
dulge themselves, it is confidently believed that Mr. 
Palmer's plan will be found on long experience, to be 
the best. It is a unit in symmetry and movement ; 
and all its parts support each other, like a phalanx in 
tacticks. In some instances Mr. Palmer has placed the 
platform for travelling, over the cap pieces and cross 
ties ; or rather these latter become part of the frame 
of the platform. The great body of the frame is of 

T t 



322 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

course below. But this was not found eligible, where 
ice and floods were likely to assault the haunches, when 
the frame was thus depressed. The elevation of the 
abutments would require, for this plan, immense weight 
and expense of filling, and expose the walls to dangerous 
pressure. 

Nor would it be so well calculated for heavy trans- 
portation. More important than all — it would be unfit 
for covering to such advantage. Notwithstanding this 
great improvement, was highly approved by Mr. Palmer 
it was not in his contemplation, as to mode^ until the 
outline of the present cover was shown to him : although 
he said he had repeatedly, but fruitlessly, urged the 
measure of covering their bridges, in Nev/-England. It 
is hoped this example will be followed in all pontifical 
wooden structures of magnitude, hereafter. Bridges 
may, for most situations, be less expensive in the frame ; 
the middle section may be omitted above the flooring ; 
nor need they be more than thirty feet v/ide. This 
width was deemed sufficient by Mr. Weston, for bridges 
in general ; though he considered that over the Schuyl- 
kill to require more than comm.on space, for its constant 
and burthensome transportation. The Easton bridge, 
built under Mr. Palmer's directions, is 28 feet wide; 
and thtj frame of the middle section does not rise above 
the platform. Its situation does not demand a plan, or 
call for dimensions, on a greater scale ; and it is erected 
according to the improved work of the frame of the 
SchuUkill bridge. 

Although the cover of the Schuylkill bridge com- 
pelled ornament, and some elegance of design, lest it 
should disgrace the environs of a great city ; these would 
not be necessan,^ in such a degree, in other situations. 
Neatness of elevation and taste in design, mav be shown 
at a small expense ; and the workmanship and materials 
need be no more costlv, than those for roofing and wea- 
ther-boarding common frame buildings. The Schuylkill 
bridge roof required one hundred and ten thousand shin- 
gles, of three feet long and six inches wide ; and other 
materials in proportion. Much of these may be saved, 
in narrower frames. The painting or coating, with the 
durable composition, in imitation of stone, which ap- 
pears on the exterior of the work, below the platform, 
(for which a recipe is subjoined) may be done at a 
small expense. — Mineral paints are the worst, for coat- 
ing exposed to weather. The oil does not combine with 



AND IMPROVXTVITNTS. SSjJ^ 

the mineral, as it does with absorbent earths : and being 
extracted by the sun, leaves the mineral particles with- 
out adhesion, and they drop, or are washed away by 
rains, dews, and moisture. All oils or fats, are known, 
chymically, to be alike composed j and are better or 
worse, as they are or are not mixed with foreign matter. 
Linseed oil may be had every where, and fish oil is 
common. Ochres for colouring (far preferable to mi- 
nerals) abound throughout the country ; and only re- 
quire judicious exploration for their discovery. Clarified 
turpentine is a good substitute for oils ; but a mixture of 
both is best. The less forcings to accelerate drying, 
the better. Though inconvenient in some respects, the 
composition will be more durable, the longer it is in 
drying; but care should be taken, that it be not so thin 
as to run; or not retain the sand and paint. Sea sand, 
or earth mixed with marine salt, should be avoided, as 
being hostile to compositions or cements ; and particu- 
larly when calcareous substances are combined. Some 
of the Delaware stone-cutter's sand, used with the 
Schuylkill bridge coating, was found to be liable to this 
objection. We have daily before us proofs of this fact 
in our plastering ; where the hair of salt hides is used. 
Every moisture of the room, or atmosphere, brings out 
stains and damp spots on our walls , to which papering 
will not adhere, as it does on other [)lastering, into the 
composition whereof, salt hair does not enter. Chy- 
mists may account for this : but to them it is not yet 
clearly ascertained, whence the muriatick acid is de- 
rived ; nor are its nature, and properties, accurately 
known.* Long and frequent experience has evinced 
that the least mixture of this acid, or common salt,f 
with gypsum, produces a tertium, which renders it un- 



• Tills acid forms, witli calcareous matter, muriat of lime ; which 
being deliquescent, will not indurate. Its strong affinity for water, 
attracts and retains the humid vapour of the air. 

f Common salt is compounded of the muriatick acid, and soda. The 
latter substance abounds in the ocean, and other places, where common 
salt is found. The vitrioiick acid of g-)psum meeting with the mu- 
riatick, in the salt, expels it from the soda of the salt ; and having a 
predominant affinity, forms sulphat of soda, or glauber salts. Good 
common salts should contain two thirds of soda, and one tinrc muria- 
tick acid ; and is seldom pure in its combhiation as to propoi-tiou ; or 
absence of foreign matter. 



324 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

fit for a cement ; and also destroy its agricultural uses 
and properties, 

RECIPE FOR COMPOSITION TO IMITATE STONE. 

The work should not be primed j though part of that 
at the bridge was so done, before it was determined to 
coat it with composition. 

The paint used was common white lead and oil ; as 
the painters preferred their own way, and the scaffolding 
could not remain at risk, while experiments on other 
paints were tried. It was conceded afterwards, that if 
there had been time to prepare and use other paint, 
and the urgency of despatch had not precluded delay 
for drying, fish oil and clarified turpentine with ochres 
would have been more eligible. 

As fast as the painter proceeded in his work, an 
adroit hand dashed on the sand and pounded stone dust. 
This was mixed in proper proportions, as to colour and 
consistency, which is only to be known b}^ preparatory 
experiments, easily accomplished. It was thrown on 
with a common tin dust pan. The sand and stone dust 
must be free from moisture, or any tincture from ma- 
rine salt. It was dried in the sun or a large iron kettle 
over a slow fire. A small proportion of plaster of 
Paris, was mixed with the sand and stone dust. A 
long trough containing the sand and dust, was placed 
under the work ; and caught what did not adhere, so 
as to be thrown up again and prevent waste. The 
despatch with which this operation can be performed, 
exceeded expectation, both as to facility and economy. 
With marble dust, it may be made to imitate that stone. 
As soon as one coat is dry the other must be laid on. 
Two coats, well attended to, are sufficient. But this 
is left to the choice of those, who think another coat is 
required. 

The joints are imitated by convex strips, sprigged on 
the weather-boarding : and after the coating is put on, 
they are penciled off, with white paint. 

The following is a recipe much followed, and with 
invariable success, for barns and other buildings in the 
country: and being, particularly applied to roofs, it is 
called "^r^/?ro(?/." 

Take twenty gallons of fish oil ; boil it four hours 
over a slov/ fire ; and skim it as the feculence rises. 
Put in it twelve pounds of rosin, or an equivalent pro- 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 325 

portion of clarified turpentine. Before taking off the 
fire, mix ten gallons flax-seed oil, boiled in the common 
way. Grind and mix with the oil, a sufficient quantity 
of ochre (of what colour you please) to make the 
paint thick as can well be brushed on. As you brush 
on the paint, have your composition ready to sift, or 
dash on. It is thus made : 

Take one bushel of ground plaster, calcined over a 
fire in a dry pot, or kettle. When cold, mix with it 
three bushels of stone dust or fine sand, dry, and the 
more gritt) or siliceous, the better. Sift or dash on, 
as fast as the paint is laid on. When dry, the second 
coat is applied in the same manner. Live coals, in 
quantities, h;ive been thrown on roofs thus coated, 
without injury. It does not scale with frost, or melt 
with the hottest sun. The above is sufficient for a large 
roof. 

The whole expense of the preceding composition in- 
cluding labour and laying on will not exceed 50 dollars. 

Feet. In. 

Length of the bridge, - - - 550 

Abutments and wing walls, - - - 750 

Total length, ... - - 1300 

Span of small arches - - - - 150 
(three in the whole number, 
including middle arch.) 

*Ditto of middle arch, - - - - 194 10 

Width of the bridge - - - - 42 
Curvature of the middle 3 2 ") The curvatures 
ditto of small arches 10 J are catenarian. 

Rise of the carriage way, ... 8 

Height in the clear over carriage way, - 13 



* The middle arch was originally intended to be only 160 feet, but 
the dam could not be placed on the spot contemplated, owing- to the 
barreness and inequalities of the rock at the bottom. 

It is hig-'nly creditable to those concerned in the direction and 
executive branches of this work, that no delay ever occurred through 
want of supplies, or prompt payment. Yet one million and a half of 
feet (board measure) of timber, and above 22,000 perches of stone, 
with all the subordinate and auxiliary materials required, were em- 
ployed in this structure. The labour, the cost whereof was a great 
proportion of the expenditures, was obtained below the common 
rate, in most instances ; owing to the regularity and certainty of 
payment. 



326 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

Feet In. 
Height from surface of the river to the carriage 

way, - 31 

Depth of water to the rock at the western pier 41 
Ditto at the eastern pier, - - - 21 to 24 
Amount of toll when the work began for 1799, $ 5000 
Present rate (1805.) - . - . 13000 

The company have established commodious wharves, 
which were necessary for the safety of the abutments ; 
and add greatly to the improvements of that front of 
the city. 

President and Directors at the close of the Work, 

President^ Richard Peters. 

Directors^ John Dunlap John Perot, Ebenezer Hazard, 
Thomas Savery, William Poyntell, Charles Biddle, 
Richard H. Morris, George Fox, Peter Browne, 
John G. Wachsmuth, George Reinhold, Anthony 
Cuthbert. 

Treasurer^ John Dorsey. 

Building Coramittee. Richard Peters, William Poyntell, 
Anthony Cuthbert, John Dunlap, Peter Browne, 
George Fox. 

^tarries of excellent marble are found in this state of 
different colours, white, blue, varigated, and black. They 
are situated on the Schuylkill, in Ivlontgomers' county, 
and in Centre county. Slate is also procured in large 
quantities, on the Lehigh river near the coal mines 
before mentioned. 

ARTIFICIAL MINERAL WATERS, 

A manufactory of these waters has been lately esta- 
blished in Philadelphia, which promises to be not only 
lucrative to the proprietors, but of great publick utility. 
Some idea of their importance may be obtained from the 
following article, which is transcribed from that highly 
and justly celebrated periodical publication, the Port 
l^olio. 

" Sometime, v/e believe, in the year 1766, an enter- 
prising individual by the name of Ovv'-en, opened, what 
he denominated a mineral water warehouse, which he 
attempted to make a fashionable lounge^ by assuring the 
nobility, gentry, and the whole tribe of valetudinarians, 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. o27 

that he would, by a chymical process, rival the waters of 
the most famous springs on the continent, as well as in 
Great Britain. Whether from the rage of repairing to 
Pyrmont and Spa, and Bath and Buxton, or whether 
from some defect in his processes, we believe this pro- 
ject of Owen, though plausible, was never fully realized. 
About the year 1792, a swiss adventurer, and a very in- 
genious chymist, by the name of Schweppe, manufactu- 
red these waters, by a process so scientifick and success- 
ful, that the artificial water in many respects was 
demonstrated to be superiour to that from the fountain 
head. Since that period, what is denominated Seltzer 
and Soda waters have become not only as common 
remedies in many alarming disorders, but as grateful 
morning beverage to those who are curious in thefr 
choice of fluids, or who, as it is incomparably better 
expressed by Shakspeare^ are exquisite in their drinking, 

*' We remark with very great pleasure, that an esta- 
blishment of this useful nature, has latelv been made in 
this city. Soda, Seltzer, Pyrmont, and Ballstown wa- 
ters, are furnished at the manufactory at a reasonable 
rate, and appear to possess many valuable properties. 
Some of the most learned of our physicians and chy- 
mists, together with many private gentlemen, have born 
open testimony to the efficacy and agreeableness of 
these v/aters, and v/e have not a doubt, that as soon 
as their peculiar properties become more generally 
known, that they will be often quaffed by the luxuri- 
ous, the studious, the sedentary, and the hypochon- 
driacal. 

*^ As information on this subject is much wanted and 
as it is a vulgar errour to suppose that these waters are 
merely a nauseous medicine, we have from a very new 
and valuable work, by Sir John Sinclair, entitled *' The 
Code of Longevity," extracted the subsequent account 
of Mr. Schweppe's process. The testimony of the 
above ingenious physician who describes it is above all 
challenge, and Dr. Beddoes, whose profoundness as a 
chymist, will hardly be denied, has declared that such 
are the invigorating effects of what he terms mineral 
acid^ that it may be often very advantageously substituted 
for fermented or vinous liquors. 

" From unquestionable authority, we are assured that 
these waters are, in London, not only copiously supplied 
from the laboratory of the chymist, but also from the 
bar of the tvivern. The invalid, tormented by dyspepsia, 



3%B ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

or any of its distressing symptoms, is sure to find relief 
in this salutary beverage ; and the bon vivant^ whose op- 
pressed stomach is acid by libations of port over night, 
is effectually cured by a glass of Soda in the morning. 
At the most luxurious tables, Seltzer and Madeira arc 
often mingled, and this union of Bacchus with the 
Naiads, is not less propitious to pleasure than to health. 
The celebrated Sir James Mackintosh, who was once as 
famous for his convivial, as he always is for his literary 
powers, tired or afraid of the bewitching smiles of Bur- 
gundy^ has wholly relinquished the use of wine, and 
finds no abatement in his social or his studious powers 
while he drinks a purer stream from the bowl of 
chymistry. 

" In the year 1795, that respectable physician, Dr. 
Pearson, of Leicester square, London, drew up at the 
desire of the author, the following hints respecting wa- 
ter impregnated with fixed air, or the carbonick acid, as 
manufactured by J. Schweppe, late of Geneva. 

" Three years ago, a person of the name of J. Schweppe, 
late of Geneva, called upon Dr. Pearson with a letter of 
introduction, to propose making those artificial mineral 
waters, which contain a large proportion of carbonick 
acid, or fixed air. 

" On examining the waters prepared by this artist, the 
Doctor found that they contained a much larger pro- 
portion of carbonick acid than he had ever seen before. 
Mr. S. manufactures these preparations at an expense, 
which most persons will think reasonable, and in any 
quantity that may be required by the publick. 

" The advantages of water so impregnated, are, that 
at all times, in our country, may be prepared a water 
equal, or even superiour in all respects, to Pyrmont, 
Spa, Paulon, and other springs, whose virtues depend 
solely on the quantity of carbonick acid air they contain. 

" 2. A still greater advantage is, that by the means of 
water so highly impregnated, alkalies can be exhibited 
with much greater benefit than in any other way and in 
adequate quantities, so as to be not only not disagreea- 
ble, but highly grateful both to the stomach and palate. 

" 3. This preparation affords a most agreeable beverage 
either with or without the alkaline salt, according to the 
palates. 

" 4. Such a beverage must be highly useful in many 
diseases, as it can now be prepared in a far superiour 
manner and at a less expense than heretofore. 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 329 

" 5. Siich a beverage is highly salutary to the common 
way of living in this country^ as when mixed with wine 
it is found that a much smaller quantity of wine satisfies 
the stomach and palate, than wine does alone. • 

" 6. It is highly beneficial as a drink in the evening, to 
take off the acid, apt to be produced in the stomach after 
wine and full meals, to dilute the fluids, when containing 
too much irritating matter, to carry off such stimulating 
matter, and to strengthen the stomach. It is here sup- 
posed that the water contains alkali. 

" Upon the whole, when we consider the effects of wa- 
ter impregnated as it is by M. Schweppe, with carbo- 
nick acid, and with alkali, both as a medicine and an 
article oi salutaHj luxury^ it may be justly reckoned the 
greatest improveynent in diet of the present age, 

" To many persons languishing under disease, the fol- 
lowing information may be peculiarly acceptable though 
it cannot be expected that in every case the proposed 
remedies should answer. 

" Seltzer water from its pleasant taste and medical vir- 
tues, has been long in very general use. It has been 
very much recommended by physicians for its antisep- 
tick powers, consequently for its utility in many of the 
febrile and other diseases of large towns. It is a pow- 
erful antiscorbutick. In bilious complaints it is parti- 
cularly useful by correcting the acrimony of that fluid 
and assisting the tone of the stomach and bowels, by 
which pain and irritation are obviated or removed. Iri 
nervous affections it is useful, by invigorating the gene- 
ral system, exalting the spirits and removing weakness. 
To the ill effects whether nervous or bilious, which take 
place, as the debilitating consequence of hard living, it is 
peculiarly adapted. It is most refreshing and salutary 
after excess in eating and drinking by allaying the fe- 
verish heat and thirst generally arising therefrom. 

" By gently stimulating the nerves of the stomach it 
increases digestion, prevents flatulencies, and promotes 
the secretions in general, particularly that of the kidneys. 
" With milk it is a very useful remedy in consumptions, 
making the milk sit easy on the stomach. In most of 
the stages of the catarrh, or common cold, either in the 
head or lungs, it may be taken with great utility. With 
wine or syrup, it affords a most wholesome and agreeable 
beverage. 

" It is one of the safest as well as most cooling drinks 
for persons exhausted by much speaking, heated by 

TJ U 



330 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

dancing, or when quitting hot rooms, or crowded assem- 
blies. It may be taken in the quantity of a common 
beer glass at a time." 

Mr. Joseph Plawkins, who introduced the manufac- 
turing of these waters into Philadelphia, has made a very 
important improvement in the process. The mineral 
water by machinery of his contrivance, and for which he 
has obtained letters patent from the government of the 
United States, is raised from the fountain or reservoir 
in which it is prepared under ground, through perpen- 
dicular wooden columns, which enclose metallick tubes, 
and by turning a cock at the top of the columns, the wa- 
ter may be drawn either in large or small quantities, and 
may be drunk at the fountain without the necessity of 
bottling. The reservoir being placed under ground, 
and frigid preparations occasionally made use of, the 
mineral water is rendered more cool, refreshing and 
gratef'il to the taste. The fixed air is likewise better 
retained in that mode of manufacturing and drinking 
these waters than in the mode hitherto customary, in 
which much of this air, which give the waters that lively 
and in some degree pungent taste so pleasing to the pa- 
late, is suffered to escape both in corking the bottles and 
drawing the corks when the water is drunk.* 

Much commendation is likewise due to Mr. George 
Shaw, the present partner of Mr. Hawkins, who by his 
industry and capital has put this manufactory on a flou- 
rishing establishment. 

A very valuable coal mine has been discovered 
on the Lehigh river, in the county of Northampton. 
Dr. Woodhouse has favoured the publick with the 
following account of the properties of this coal, publish- 
ed originally in the Philadelphia Medical Museum. 

" This coal is found in immense quantities in Penn- 
sylvania, in the county of Northampton, near the river 
Lehigh. It is of a shining black colour, and stains the 
hands very little. Its fragments are tabular as may be 



* We are requested to inform the publick that these waters are pre- 
pared and sold under the direction ot the persons who first introduced 
them into this country, at the house of George Shaw, by Shaw and 
Hawkins, No. 98, Chesnut sti-eet, Philadelphia, where the different 
kinds may be obtained in any quantity, either for home consumption 
or exportation. 

These gentlemen likewise contemplate imitating all the natural ml- 
nei'alsprmgs of any celebrity which have been discovered in the United 
States. 



*^ 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 331 

seen very particularly after it has been submitted to heat. 
Its specifick gravity is 16,181. It burns with very lit- 
tle flame, and no smoke ; it is with some difficulty kin- 
dled, and requires a considerable draught of air to keep 
up its combustion. When perfectly consumed, it leaves 
behind a small portion of siliceous earth, containing no 
potash, and sometimes coloured brown, by means of 
iron. It does not contain any sulphur. , 

" A fire was kindled at half past eleven o'clock, by 
placing a quantity of the Lehigh coal, upon a stratum of 
common charcoal in a powerful air furnace, which was 
then filled with equal portions of the two substances. 

" As fast as the charcoal consumed, the Northampton 
coal was added, and at half past one the furnace was 
completely filled with it, and two thirds of it red hot. 
At four o'clock the coal was half consumed, and it 
continued burning until eleven o'clock at night. 

" James river coal submitted to an experiment of the 
same kind, burned out in four hours. 

" A fire was made with the Lehigh coal in a smith's 
forge, and two thick bars of iron were placed in it, and 
welded with great care, by the proprietor of the furnace. 

*' The smith, his journeymen, and by-standers were 
convinced that the heat was much greater than that of 
James river coal. 

" As the Virginia coal burns with flame and much 
smoke, a vast portion of this combustible substance, 
and the heat generated by it, is lost in passing up the 
chimney. 

" The Lehigh coal promises to be particularly useful, 
when a long continued heat is necessary, and in distilling 
or evaporating large quantities of water from various 
substances ; in the melting of metals, or in subliming of 
salts ; in generating steam to work steam engines ; and 
in common life, for washing, cooking, &c. provided the 
fire places are constructed in such a manner as to keep up 
a strong draught of air ^ 

DISTILLERIES. 

Of these there are a great number in various parts of 
the state. But we know of none, which claims any no- 
tice on account of any particular improvements in the 
process of distillation, excepting that of colonel Ander- 
son of Philadelphia. For these improvements this 
gentleman obtained a patent, which specifies that his 



532 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

invention consists in " making use of steam, arising 
in distillation for heating wash, or any subject to be 
distilled, by means of a condensing tub in which the 
wash is so placed as to receive the whole heat of the 
steam." This process saves fuel and labour, and ren- 
ders it impossible to burn the wash. Two stills construct- 
ed on this principle are in operation at Lamberton, at 
the works of Messrs. Anderson and Hall, and we under- 
stand they are about to be introduced into various other 
parts of the country. 

In the city of Philadelphia and its immediate vicinity, 
there are ten ropewalks, thirteen breweries, six sugar-* 
houses, seyen hair powder manufactories, two rum dis- 
tilleries, one rectifying distillery, three card manufacto- 
ries, several iron founderies, in one of which are cast 
cannon of a large calibre, fifteen for earthen ware, six 
for chocolate, four for mustard, three for cut nails, one 
for patent nails, one fqr steel, one for aqua fortis or ni- 
trick acid, one for sal ammoniack andglauber salts, seve- 
ral for oil colours, two for brushes, two for buttons, one 
for morocco leather, one for parchnient, several for the 
manufacturing of glue, besides gun makers, type foun- 
ders, ship builders, plumbers, and a great variety of 
others. 

Shot manufactories have lately been established or re- 
vived, and appear to promise to supersede the importa- 
tion of English shot. They are manufactured princi- 
pally from lead found in I^ouisiana and shipped from 
New Orleans. 

These shot are not equal to the English patent shot,* 
having in general a minute cavity on one side, but they 



• Patent shot, as Dr. Black has informed us, are manufactured in 
England as follows : 

*' A little orpiment or arsenick is added to the lead, which disposes 
it to run into spherical drops much more rapidly than it would do when 
pure. The melted lead is poured into a cylinder, whose circumfer- 
ence is pierced with holes. The lead streaming through the holes 
soon divides into drops, which fall into water, where they congeal. 
They are far from being all spherical, ho\yever, many being shaped 
like pears and must be picked. This is done by a very ingenious con- 
trivance. The whole is sifted on the upper end of a long, smooth in- 
clined plane, and the grains roll down to the lower end. But the pear- 
like shape of the bad grains make them roll down irregularly, and 
they waddle as it were to a side ; wlxile the round ones run straight 
flown. They are received into a sort of funnel, which extends from the 
one side of the inclined plane to the other, and is divided by several 
partitions, so that it is really the mouth of several funnels which lead 
to different boxes. Tho§s in the middle receive the round grains. 



AND IMPROVEMENTS^ 333 

are sold at a lower rate, and will answer all the ordinary 
purposes of the sportsman. 

STEAM ENdlNES. 

There is no part of the world in proportion to its popu- 
lation, where a greater number of ingenious mechanicks 
may be found than in Philadelphia and its immediate 
vicinity. Steam engines with all their various improve- 
xnents are built and applied, beneficially, to the most 
useful purposes. There are two of these in Philadelphia, 
which belong to the corporation of the city, built for the 
purpose of supplying the city with water ; one of which 
likewise drives a rolling and slitting mill. 

In the Philadelphia steam engines certain innovations 
have been introduced, which we hope may be found to 



On each side are grains of a worse shape, but good enough for low 
priced shot. The grains which have gone far aside are melted again. 
The good ones are sorted into sizes by sieves. 

The grains of small shot made in this way are very often hollow, or 
have a deep pit on one side, which is frequently rugged within ; it is 
owing to the sudden congelation of the outside by the water. That 
forms a hard case, while the interiour is still fluid ; and contracting as 
it cools, a pai-t is left empty. As this greatly lessens the value of small 
shot, many attempts have been made to prevent it, which have been 
more or less successful. Some manufacturers have mixed other metals 
witli the lead, others have kept oil on the water ; others receive the 
lead into boiling hot water covered with melted tallow. I beUeve that 
the most successful method has been that of tlie manufacture in South- 
wark, London, where the furnace is at the top of a very high tower, 
not less than one hundred feet, and the shot is gradually cooled as it 
falls through the air. The chief effect of this, however, must be the 
incomparably g^-eater number of spherical grains. I do not see how 
this will much prevent the hoUowness of the shot, even if the tower were 
four times as high. The shot would fall two hundred and fifty feet in 
four seconds, and four himdred feet in five seconds, neither of which 
would sufficiently cool it. Its latent heat requires a much longer time 
than this for its absorption by air. The pear -like shape is occasioned 
by the fluid lead within brealcing the ci'ust, and freezing as it comes in 
contact with the water. When this is done from a very small height, 
the drops descend slowly through the water. The fluid within break- 
ing the crust by its great weight, runs out freezing as it goes down, 
and often leaves a pretty round tliin cup with a taper thing below it like 
an extinguisher. Some metals thus form themselves into nails wit^ 
large heads ; others take other shapes very uniform, and very unex- 
pected. Great differences are produced by different liquors instead of 
water, and by different heats of the metals, and by the heights from 
which they are poured, &c. 

See likewise Nicholson's Journal, vol. 1. page 263. Rep, of Arts, vol. 2. 
and Parke's Chvmical Catechism, Philadelphia, edition, pages 214.272. 
282. 



534 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

be improvements. What are styled the improvements, 
consist, principally, in making use of a wooden chest to 
contain the water, through which the flues of the furnace 
wind several times before their discharge into the 
chimney. 

These wooden boilers are supposed to be serviceable 
in consequence of their being slow conductors of heat, 
and the long cylindical heaters exposing a very great sur- 
face of iron to the action of the water. The steam en- 
gine in Center Square is a double steam engine, with a 
cylinder of thirty-two inches. Its power is calculated 
for supplying not merely the present but the future wants 
of this city. It makes twelve strokes of six feet per 
minute, for sixteen hours in twenty-four, in which time 
it consumes from twenty-five to thirty-three bushels of 
Virginia coals of the best sort. 

Some inconveniencies are said to attend these wooden 
boilers, such as steam leaking through the joints and at 
the bolts. A conical wooden boiler has been adopted as 
it appears at the suggestion of Mr. Oliver Evans, with 
hoops, which promises every wished for success. It 
was found that a combination of oak and pine in the 
same boiler was liable to premature decay in consequence 
of the pine being acted upon by the acid of the oak. 

At the lower engine, next the Schuylkill, which is a 
double steam engine of forty inches cylinder, and six feet 
stroke, a cast iron boiler has been put up with straight 
sides and semicircular ends ; seventeen feet long and 
eight feet wide at the bottom ; nineteen feet long and 
ten feet wide at the height of five feet seven inches. At 
this height it is covered by a vault, which in its trans- 
verse section is semicircular, and in its longitudinal sec- 
tion exhibits half its plan. The bottom is concave every 
way, rising one foot in the center. The fire place is six 
feet long and four feet wide on an average, and is under 
one extreme end of the bottom. The firebed is arched, 
parallel with the bottom, and a space of one foot left for 
the passage of the flame. The flame by means of flues 
and an arch of bricks is made to pass several times 
through and round the boiler. The boiler is composed 
of seventy plates of iron, cast with flanches and bolted 
together, so that the fianch and bolts are within the wa- 
ter, and is tied together by numerous braces. This 
boiler consumed fifty bushels of coals and one half cord 
of wood while rolling iron twelve hours at twenty strokes 
a minute. 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 235 

Certain improvements are likewise made in the con- 
struction of the condenser of this engine. These consist 
in so contriving the condenser that the water of conden- 
sation is evacuated twice in every stroke of the piston; 
which by creating a more perfect vacuum adds to the 
power of this engine. 

Mr, Oliver Evans, of Philadelphia, has devoted much 
time and made great improvements in mill machinery^ 
steam engines, and other branches of mechanicks. A 
tract of which he is the author, entitled " The young 
mill-wright's and miller's guide," is the only treatise 
written in America, which we have seen devoted to the 
purpose of enabling the young mechanick to understand 
the theory as well as practice of the useful arts which he 
professes. 

His work is divided into the following five parts : 

I. Mechanicks andHydraulicks, showing errours in the 
old, and establishing a new system of theories of water 
miills, by which the power of mill seats, and the effects they 
will produce may be ascertained by calculation. 

II. Rules for applying the theories to practice, tables 
for proportioning mills to the power and fall of the water 
and rules for finding pitch circles, with tables from 6 to 
136 cogs. 

III. Directions for constructing and using all the au- 
thor's patent improvements in mills. 

IV. The art of manufacturing meal and flour in all its 
parts, as practised by the most skilful millers in Ame- 
rica. 

V. The Practical Mill wright ; containing instruc- 
tions for building mills, with tables of their proportions 
suitable for all falls from three to thirty-six feet ; with 
an Appendix, containing rules for discovering how im- 
provements made may be exemplified in improving the 
art of cleaning grain, hulling rice, warming rooms and 
venting smoke by chimneys, &c. 

This work is perhaps calculated rather for the tyro in 
mathematicks and mechanicks, than for one who had 
made very considerable improvements in those branches 
of science. Still \ve. believe it to be very useful, parti- 
cularly that part which gives a description of Mr. Evans's 
Patent Elevators. 

Mr. Evans has made a liberal but judicious use of the 
writers, (particularly Smeaton,) who have preceded him 
in this very important branch of mechanical philosophy. 
From the attention which it has been in our power to 



336 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

bestow upon his tract, and his inventions and improve- 
ments, we are convinced that they deserve much more 
encouragement than they have received.* 

The following extract from the Specification of Mr. 
Evans' patent for a new mode of working machinery by 
steam of a high temperature, together with the specifi- 
cation for improvements in mill machinery, we present 
the publick with the consent of the inventor, and hope 
giving it publicity may have a tendency to cause the im- 
provements of Mr. Evans to be still more generally 
adopted, and prevent others from infringing upon his 
patents. 

" My principle is to construct engines so as to confine 
the steam and thereby increase the heat in the water, 
which increases the elastick power of the steam to a 
very great degree : applying the following principle in 
nature not heretofore used or known to ;be useful in 
moving machinery, nameh^ : As the heat of the water 
is increased in an arithmetical progression, the elastick 
power of steam is increased in a geometrical progres- 
sion. Every addition of about thirty degrees of heat 
in the water (by Fahrenheit's thermometer, be the tem- 
perature what it may) doubles the elastick power of the 
steam, which is in so great a ratio that doubling the 
heat in the water increases the power of steam about 
one hundred times. The precise ratio is unknown, and 
perhaps never can be ascertained. This principle ne- 
ver can be put in practice fully equal to the theory, be- 
cause if we consume double the quantity of fuel it will 
not create double heat in the water ; but in practice it 



* Mr. Evans makes the following complaint of the propensity of 
Americans to stifle a spirit of improvement, which I am sorry to find 
corroborated by too many instances of imjust and injurious treatment 
to those whose ingenuity has been of incalculable service to their 
country and to mankind. 

" The ingenious inventors of useful improvements in this country, 
are still left to struggle, not only with the taunting sarcasms and em- 
barrassing opposition of those who, wise in tlieir own conceit, appa- 
rently take delight in condemning and opposing projects until they ai*e 
brought into successful operation, but with hea\y losses and sometimes 
ruin, even if the attempt succeeds. Nine tenths of the exclusive rights 
granted will injure the inventor for the first fourteen years in this coun- 
try, especially if the patent be taken out before the improvement is in 
full operation ; and if not tUl then some pilfering genius may attempt 
surreptitiously to take out a patent for the prine^ples of the invention 
before the true inventor, and occasion him the hea'ry expense of a 
lawsuit before his rigrht can be established. 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 337 

appears that as the consumption of fuel is increased in 
an arithmetical progression, the effect of my engines 
increase in a geometrical progression also, in so great a 
ratio, that doubling the consumption of fuel increases 
the effect of the engine at least sixteen times. 

" The application of this principle is what I claim as 
the principal part of my discovery, invention, and im- 
provement, on steam engines, and this is wherein mv 
engines differ from all others heretofore known or used. 
My principle will apply to move all steam engines of 
every form and construction, provided their several 
parts be sufficiently strong to bear the power of the 
steam to put the principle in action, working the engine 
by the elastick power of the steam alone, but a con- 
denser may be used to take off the resistance of the 
atmosphere. 

THE FOLLOWING IS MR. EVANs's SPECIFICATION FOR IM- 
PROVEMENTS IN MILL MACHINERY. 

" My first principle is to elevate the meal, as fast as 
it is ground, in small separate parcels, in continued 
succession, and rotation, to fall on the cooling floor, 
to spread, turn, and expose it to the action of the air 
as much as possible, and to keep it in constant and 
continual motion, from the time it is ground until it be 
boulted ; this I do to give the air full action ; to ex- 
tract the superfluous moisture from the meal, while 
the heat generated by the friction of grinding will re- 
pel and throw it off and the more eftectually dry and 
cool the meal fit for boulting in the course of the ope-' 
ration, and save time and expense to the miller ; also 
to avoid all danger from fermentation by its lying warm 
in larger quantities than usual ; and to prevent insects 
from depositing their eggs, which may breed the worms, 
often found in good flour. And further to complete this 
principle so as to dry the meal more effectually, and 
to cause the flour to keep sweet a greater length of 
time, I mean to increase the heat of the meal as it 
falls ground from the mill stones, by application of 
heated air ; that is to say, to kiln dry the meal as it 
is ground, instead of kiln drying the grain as usual. 
The flour will be fairer and better than if made from 
kiln-dried grain, the skin of which is made so brittle 
that it pulverizes and mixes with the flour. This 
principle I applv by various machines which I have in- 

X X 



338 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

vented, constructed, and adapted, to the purposes here^ 
after specified, numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 

My second principle is to aj)ply the power that moves 
the mill or other principal machine to work my machine- 
ry, and by them to perform various operations, which 
have always heretofore been performed by manual force, 
and thus greatly to lessen the expense and labour of 
attending mills and other works. 

" The application of those principles, including these of 
kiln drying the meal during the process of manufacture 
or otherwise to the improvement of the process of manu- 
facturing flour, and for other purposes, is what I claim 
as my invention and improvement in the art, as not hav- 
ing been known or used before my discovery, knowing 
well that the principles once applied by one set of machi- 
nery to produce the desired effect, others may be con- 
trived and variously constructed and adapted to produce 
like effects in the application of the principles ; but 
perhaps none to produce the desired effect more com- 
pletely than those which I have invented and adapt- 
ed to the purposes, and which are herein after specified. 

" No. 1. The Elevator. Its use is to elevate any grain, 
granulated or pulverized substances. Its use in the ma- 
nufacture of flour or meal is to elevate the meal from the 
millstones in small separate parcels, and to let it fall 
through the air on the cooling floor, as fast as it is 
ground. It consists of an endless strap-rope, or chain, 
with a number of small buckets attached to thereto, set 
to revolve round two pullies, one at the lowest and the 
other at the highest point between which the substance 
is to be raised. These buckets fill as they turn under 
the lower, and empty as they turn over the upper pul- 
ley : the whole is inclosed by cases of boards to pre- 
vent waste. 

" No. 2. The Conveyor. Its use is to convey any grain, 
granulated or pulverized substances in a horizontal as- 
cending or descending direction. Its use in the process 
of the art of manufacturing flour, is to convey the meal 
from the mill stones as it is ground to the elevator, to 
be raised, and to keep the meal in constant motion, ex- 
posing it to the action of the air; also in some cases to 
convey the meal from the elevator to the bolting hopper, 
and to cool and dry it fit for boulting instead of the 
hopper boy No. 3, also to mix the flour after it is 
boulted ; also to convey the gmin f^m one machine to 
another, and in this operation to r*ih the impurities off 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 339 

the grain. It consists of an endless screw, set to revolve 
in a tube or section of a tube, receiving the substance 
to be moved at one end, and delivering it at the other 
end ; but for the purpose of conveying flour or meal 
I construct it as follows : instead of making it a con- 
tinued spiral, which forms the endless screw, I set 
small boards called flights at an angle crossing the 
spiral line, these flights operate like so many ploughs 
following each other, moving the meal from one end 
of the tube to the other, with a continued motion turn- 
ing and exploring it to the action of the air to be 
cooled and dried. Sometimes I set some of these 
flights to move broad side foremost, to lift the meal 
from one side to fall on the other, to expose it to the 
air more eff'ectually. 

" No. 3. The Hopper Boy. Its use is to spread any 
grain, granulated or pulverized substances, over a floor 
or even surface ; to stir it and expose it to the air to 
dry and cool it when necessary, and at the same time 
to gather it from the circumference of the circle it de- 
scribes, to or near the centre, or to spread it from the 
centre to the circumference, and leave it in the place 
where we wish it to be delivered when sufliciently ope- 
rated on. Its use in the process of manufactuiing 
flour is to spread the meal as : fast as it falls from the 
elevator over the cooling floor on the area of a circle 
from eight feet to sixteen feet more or less in diameter, 
according to the work of the mill, to stir and turn 
it continually, and to expose it to the action of the air 
to be dried and cooled, and to gather it into the boulting 
hoppers, and to attend the same regularly. It consists 
of an upright shaft made round at the lower end about 
two thirds of its length, and set to revolve on a pivot 
in the centre of the cooling floor ; through this shaft, 
say five feet from the floor, is put a piece called the 
leader, and the lower end of the shaft passes very 
loosely through a round hole^in the centre of another 
piece called the arms, say from eight to sixteen feet in 
length — this last piece revolving horizontally, describes 
the circle of the cooling floor, and is led round by a 
cord, the two ends otVSvhich are attached to the two 
ends of the arms, and^ passing through holes at each 
end of the leader, so that the cord will serve to pull 
each end of the arms equally. The weight of the 
arms is nearly baldtced ^y a weight hung to a cord 
which is attached to the arms and passes over a pulley 



340 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

near the upper end of the upright shaft, to cause the 
arms to play lightly, pressing with only part of their 
weight on the meal that may be under it. The foremost 
edges of the arms are sloped upwards to cause them 
to rise over and keep on the surface of the meal as 
the quantity increases, and if it be used separately and 
unconnected with the elevator, the meal may be thrown 
with shovels within its reach, while in motion, and it will 
spread it level and rise over it until the heap be four 
feet high or more, which it will gather into the hoppers, 
always taking from the surface, after turning it to the 
air a great number of times. The under sides of these 
arms are set with little inclining boards called flights 
-..about four inches apart next the centre, and gradually 
closing to about two inches next the extremities, the 
flights of the one arm to tract between those of the 
other they operate like ploughs, and at every revolution 
of the machine they give the meal two turns towards 
the centre of the circle near to which is generally the 
boulting hoppers. At each extremity of the arms there 
is a little board, attached to the hindmost edge of the 
?irm to move side foremast; these are called sweepers; 
their use is to receive meal as it falls from the elevator 
and trail it round the circle described by the arms that 
the flights may gather it towards the centre from every 
part of the circle, without these this machine would not 
spread the meal over the whole area of the circle describ- 
ed by the arms. Other sweepers are attached to that 
part of the arms which pass over the boulting hoppers 
to sweep the meal into them. 

" But if the boulting hoppers be near a wall and not in 
the center of the cooling floor, then in this case the ex- 
tremities of the arms are made to pass over them, and 
the meal from the elevator let fall near the centre of the 
machine, and the flights are i^eversed to turn the meal 
from the center towards the circumference, and the 
vampers will sweep it into the hoppers. Thus this ma- 
chine receives the meal as it falls from the elevator on 
the cooling floor, spreads it over the floor, turns it twice 
over at every revolution, stirs and keeps it in continual 
motion, and gathers it at the same operation into the 
boulting hoppers and attends them regularl3% If the 
boulting reels are stopped, this machine spreads the 
meal and rises over it, receiving imder it from one to 
two and three hundred bushels of meal, until the boults 
are set in motion again, when it gathers the meal into 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 341 

the hoppers ; and, as the heap diminishes, it follows it 
down, until all is boulted. I claim, as my invention, the 
peculiar properties, or principles, which this machine 
possesses ; viz. the spreading, turning, and gathering the 
meal at one operation, and the using and lowering its 
arms by its motion, to accomodute itself to any quantity 
of meal it has to operate on. 

" 4. The Drill, Its use is to move any grain, granu- 
lated or pulverized substance from one place to another. 
It consists, like the elevator, of an endless strap, rope, 
or chain, &c. with little rakes instead of buckets (the 
whole cased with boards to prevent waste) revolving 
round the pullies or rollers. Its use in the process of 
manufacturing flour is to draw or rake the grain or meal 
from one part of the mill to another j it receives it at 
one pulley and delivers it at the other, in a horizontal, 
ascending, or descending direction, and in some cases 
may be more conveniently applied to that purpose than 
the conveyor. I claim the exclusive right to the princi- 
ples and to all the machines above specified, and for all 
the uses and purposes specified as not having been here- 
tofore known or used before I discovered them. They 
may be all united and combined in on^ flour mill, to 
produce my improvement on the art of manufacturing 
ilour complete, or they may each be used separately for 
any of the purposes specified and allotted to them, or to 
produce my improvement apart according to the circum- 
stances of the case, 

" No. 5. The Kiln Dryer. To kiln dry the meal after 
it is ground, and during the operation of the process 
of manufacturing flour, I take a close stove of any com- 
mon form and enclose it with a wall made of the best 
non conductor of heat, leaving a small space between 
the stove and the wall to admit air, to be heated in its 
passage through this space. I set this stove below the 
conveyor that conveys the meal from the mill stones as 
ground into the elevator, and I connect the space be- 
tween the stove and the wall to the conveyor tube by a 
pipe entering near the elevator, and I cover the conveyor 
close and set a tube to rise from the end of the conveyor 
tube near the mill stones for the heated air to ascend and 
escape as up a chimney. I make fire in the stove and 
admit air in the bottom of the space between it and 
the wall round it to be heated and pass along the convey- 
or tube meeting the meal which will be heated by the hot 
air and the superfluous moisture will be more powerfully 



342 -ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

repelled and thrown off, and the meal will be dried and 
cooled as it passes through the operation of the elevator 
and hopper boy. The flour will be fairer than if the 
grain had been kiln dried, and it will keep longer sweet 
than flour not kiln dried. I set all my machines in mo- 
tion by the common means of cog and round tooth and 
pinion straps, ropes or chains well known to every 
mill wright. 

" Arrangement and connection of the several machines 
so as to apply my principles to produce my improvements 
complete. 

" I fix a spout through the wall of the mill for the grain 
to be emptied into from the wagoner's bag to run into 
a box hung at the end of a scale beam to weigh a wag- 
gon load at a draught. From this box it descends into 
the grain elevator, which raises it to a granary over the 
cleaning machines, and as it passes through them it may 
be directed into the same elevator to ascend to be clean- 
ed a second time, and then descend into a granarv over 
the hopper of the mill stones to supply them regularly, 
and as ground it falls from the several pair of mill stones 
into the conveyors where it is dried by the heated air of 
the kiln dryer, and is conveyed into the meal elevator to be 
raised and dropped on the cooling floor, within reach of 
the hopper boy, which receives and spreads it over the 
whole erea of the circle which it describes, stirring and 
turning it continually and gathering it into the boulting 
hopper which it attends regularly. That part of the flour 
which is not sufficiently boulted by the first operation, is 
conveyed by a conveyor or drill and let run into the eye 
of the mill stone to be ground over. 

" Thus the whole of the operation which used to be 
performed by manual labour, is from the time the wheat 
is emptied from the wagoner's bag, or from the ship's 
measure until it enters the boults and the manufacture is 
completed in the most perfect manner, performed by the 
machinery and moved by the power which moves the 
mill, and this machinery keeps the meal in constant mo- 
tion during the whole process of drying and cooling it 
more completely, avoiding all danger from fermentation, 
and preventing insects from depositing their eggs, and 
performing all the operations of grinding and boulting 
to much greater perfection, making the greatest possible 
quantity of the best quality of flxOur out of the grain, 
saving much time, and labour, and expense to the miller, 
and preventing much from being wasted by the motion 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 343 

of the machine being so slow as to cause none of the 
flour to arise in form of dust, and to be carried away by 
the air, and the cases of the machine being made close 
prevents any from being lost. 

THE ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS. 

FOR the following article we are indebted to the Port 
Folio. 

The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts is situate on 
the north side of Chesnut, midway between Tenth and 
Eleventh-streets. The lot of ground is one hundred 
and seventy-eight feet deep ; it recedes from the front 
line of the street seventy-five feet, has twenty-five feet 
vacant ground on each side, and forty-three feet haci : it 
is set sufficiently high to admit of a terrace in front. 

The present building, which is fifty feet front by sixty 
feet deep, is so calculated as to be a whole when finished j 
and, at the same time to admit of many future addi- 
tions, viz. one room of one hundred feet by forty-three 
exterior at the back, and one on each side of fifty feet 
by twenty-five feet exterior : towards which additions 
the whole of the fire places, funnels, doors, and stair- 
ways are already effected; and it is only necessary to 
break away four inches of brick work, where they will 
be found placed in a uniform and regular manner. The 
character of the exterior architecture is modern lonick. 
The front elevation consists of a marble basement, four 
feet high, with (as is intended) a large flight of steps, 
to a recessed porch eighteen feet front on the front line, 
and ten feet deep; the remainder of the elevation con- 
sists of a high principal story and an attick, with cor- 
nice, parapet, frize, and neck moulding. The recessed 
porch is to have a column on each side, coupled (one 
diameter distant) with a pilaster against each side of 
the recess ; a full order of entablature is to rest on the 
whole of these with trophies or plain tablets above ; and 
the pavement is to be of marble slabs variegated, a cen- 
tre for which has been presented by Mr. 9. Gratz, 
of a quality equal to the Kilkenny, viz, of a fine jet 
black with an occasional sprinkling of pure white. 
The roof is nearly flat in every part, except where the 
dome appears, which is unique ; it is a hemisphere of 
brick turned, two thirds of which was sprung without a 
centre, and the remainder, owing to the lateness of the 
season, with very slight and little centering. The whole 



; 



344 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

could have been effected in a superiour stile had not the 
building been begun too late in the season j and it is a 
better mode than with centering, because every course 
of bricks keys itself, and is extremely simple; a single 
strip regulates the whole. Centering always costs more 
than the arching, hence it is economical, and can always 
be done in a circular arch, but not in a lineal one ; on 
this arch immediately, and without any medium of 
wood, is laid a most complete piece of slate work, each 
piece of which is secured immediately to the first brick 
dome, and having stood the test of two winters may be 
pronounced a sound job. In addition, inconsequence 
of having no rafters or any other work, except as before 
expressed, this roof costs less than a shingled one. 

The interiour consists of a principal room, two com- 
mittee rooms, three chambers, and complete pillars un- 
der the whole. The principal room is forty-six feet in 
diameter, and eighteen feet high to the springing of 
the ceiling, which is a dome having the sole light from 
its centre : the ceiling is plain, except a radius of light 
in stucco around the opening and semicircular archi- 
traves with reversed mouldings at the springing. The 
sides consist of eight tall pedestals alternating with an 
equal number of recesses, which open to stair ways or 
intended additional rooms ; these recesses also consist 
of principal and attick pannels or openings ; over these 
are arches whose saffits obtrude into the dome, the effect 
of which is novel ; so that the dome appears (as it really 
does) to rest on those heightened pedestals, which have 
their full order of entablature occasionally relieved by 
guiloche enrichments. The whole of the building was 
completed from the commencement in eleven solid 
weeks (in all not seventeen weeks) and is a specimen of 
sound w^ork." 

To the same publication we are further indebted for 
the following 

Catalogue of^^jSta^j^J.&s^f'^md. Busts in the Pennsylvania 
Academy of the Fine Arts,^ 

1. The Pythian Apollo^ or Apollo Behidere. This 
statute is much celebrated in sculpture, and esteemed by 



* This article is said, by the editor of the Port Folio, to be fi'om 
the pen of a lady, " who, after consulting- the best authorities, has 
arranged her ideas and descriptions with all that grace, which feminine 
genius is so prone to display on every topick that awakens the ima- 
gination. 



AND IMPROVEMENTS, 345 

the majority of artists, the most excellent and sublime of 
all the ancient productions. It was found towards the 
end of the fifteenth century, at Capo d'Auzo, upon the 
sea coast, about twelve leagues from Rome, in the ruins 
of Antium. It was purchased during the cardinalate of 
pope Julius II, and placed in his palace near the church 
of Santi Apostoli ; but soon after his elevation to the 
popedom, he removed it to the Belvidere of the Vatican, 
whence it derives its name, and where it was for three 
hundred years the admiration of the world ; until Rome 
was taken and sacked by the French, who have trans- 
ported this divine statue to the Museum at Paris. 

The marble of which this statue was formed is of so 
peculiar a kind, as to occasion much doubt among anti- 
quarians and naturalists, about the quarry it was taken 
from. The sculptors of Rome are of opinion that the 
marble is Grecian. It most probably, however, came 
from a quarry now entirely unknown. We can with as 
little accuracy denote the artist ; although some accounts 
state, that this statue was the work of Agathias, the 
Ephesian, yet the s<^avans^ who were sent to Rome, at 
the time of the incursion of the French into Italy, to ex- 
plore the works of art and their history, state, that the 
sculptor is certainly unknown. The god is here repre- 
sented with his quiver hanginj^ behind his right shoul- 
der, and his pallium over his left arm, which is extended, 
and has in the hand the remains of a bow, from which 
he is supposed to have just discharged an arrow at the 
serpent Python. On this account the statue is called 
Apolk Pythus or Pythian Apollo. The stump of the 
tree, which appears to be introduced merely to support 
the figure, presents an interesting allusion, it being the 
trunk of the ancient olive tree of Delos, under whose 
shade the god was born, and the serpent, which sur- 
rounds it, is the symbol of physick, of which he was 
patron. The right fore arm, and the left hand, which 
were wanting, have been restored by Giovanni da Mon- 
torsoli^ the pupil of Michael Angelo. 

2. The group of Laocoon^ the son of Priam and a 
priest of Apollo, who strongly opposed the admission 
of the wooden horse into Troy, which he knew en- 
closed the Greeks armed for the destruction of that 
city. To open the eyes of his fellow citizens, he even 
dared to direct his javelin against the fatal machine. 
Irritated by his temerity, the gods, who were enemies 
to Troy, decreed his punishment. Accordingly, when 

Yy 



346 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

on the sea-coast, Laocoon crowned with laurel, and at* 
tended by his two sons, was sacrificing to Neptune, two 
enormous serpents rushed suddenly upon them from the 
water. In vain he struggles, they encircle him and his 
children in their folds, and tear them with their ve- 
nomous fangs. In spite of the efforts that he makes to 
disengage himself, this unfortunate father with his two 
sons, the deplorable victim of unjust vengeance, seem- 
ing, by their eyes turned towards heaven to implore 
mercy from the gods, expire in the most inexpressible 
agonies. Such is the subject of this admirable group, 
one of the most perfect works which the chisel has 
produced. A chef d'cEure of composition, design and 
sentiment, which has stood the test of ages, and of 
which no commentaries have been able to weaken the 
impression. It was found in 1506, during the pontifi- 
cate of Julius II, at Rome, on Mount Esquiline, in the 
ruins of the palace of Titus. Pliny, who speaks of it 
with admiration, saw it in the same place. To him 
we are indebted for the names of its sculptors, Ageaan- 
der^ Polydorus^ and Athenodorus^ of Rhodes. Agesander 
was probably the father of the others." They flourished 
in the first age of the vulgar era. The group is com- 
posed of five blocks, so artfully united that Pliny thought 
they were but one. The right arm of the father and the 
two arms of the children are wanting. They are not 
in the antique, though, doubtless they will one day be 
.executed in marble as they have been restored by Gi- 
rardon in plaster, to the original in the Louvre. All 
the copies have been made from the original without 
the addition of the arms. The only objection which 
has been made to the perfection of this group, is that 
the sons, with the countenance and expression of man- 
hood, have only the size of children. 

3. The Venus de Medici is here represented as just 
from the sea. Her divinely graceful form is unembar- 
rassed by drapery, her hair collected behind, displays 
the beauties of her polished neck, and her head gently 
inclines to the left, as smiling affably upon the graces 
who are supposed to be about to attire her. The value 
of this statue is greatly heightened by its perfect pre- 
servation. It was found in Rome, about the middle of 
the last century, between the Quirinal and Viminal 
Mounts. It was placed in the garden of the Palace de 
Medici, from which it takes its name, to distinguish it 
from its rival sister, the Venus of the Capitol. It is 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 347 

unnecessary to add that this statue is the admiration 
of the world. It was transplanted into Paris at the 
same time with Apollo, and this cast was made from 
the original, now at the museum there. 

4. Gladiator Borghese^ or fighting Gladiator. This has 
been improperly denominated of the Borghese palace. 
From the characters of its inscription it appears to be of 
greater antiquity than any other characterized by the 
name of the artist. History gives us no particular rela- 
tive to Agasias of Ephesus, author of this chief d'ceuvre ; 
but the work which he has left bears the strongest testi- 
mony of his merit. Antiquarians are divided in their 
judgment of this figure ; some have supposed it a Dis* 
cobolus, or thrower of the disk ; but others with more 
probability, have pronounced it a statue, erected to the 
honour of some Grecian warriour, who had signalized 
himself on some perilous occasion. This appears perfect- 
ly to coincide with the attitude of the figure, which is 
at the same time actively offensive and defensive; on 
the left arm the strap of the buckler, which he is suppo- 
sed to carry is distinctly seen ; the right arm is supposed 
to hold a javelin; his looks are directed upwards, as if 
defending himself from a danger, threatening from 
above. This position militates against the idea of its being 
the statue of a fighting gladiator, as his opponent may 
be supposed on horseback ; besides, it is believed the 
honour of a statue was never granted to a gladiator of 
the publick arena ; and this production is supposed ante- 
riour to the institution of gladiators in Greece. It is, 
however, probable that it may have originated in the 
fancy of some ancient artist, who intended the attitude 
to correspond with the expression of the countenance 
and the amazing muscular strength of the figure. This 
statue, as well as the Apollo, was discovered in the city 
of Antium, the birth place of the emperour Nero, which 
he embellished at an enormous expense. 

0. The Venus of the Bath^ called Venus Accroupie, Is 
supposed to be in the bath or just leaving it. It is not 
necessary that we should say much to recommend this 
beautiful little figure to those, who can appreciate excel- 
lence, and it is rare to see a subject, which has more 
charms. It is probably the work of Polycharmus who 
is known to have made a crouching Venus which was 
seen at Rome in the time of Pliny. 

6. Castor and Pollux^ by some supposed to be the 
Decii devoting themselves for their country. Nothing 



348 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

can be learned with respect to this group, as to when, or 
by whom executed, or the supposed situation of the 
figures, which are so highly estimable for the symme- 
try of the form, and the delicacy of the execution. 
They were twin brothers, and sons of Jupiter and Leda. 
Mercury, immediately after their birth, carried them 
to Pallena, where they were educated, and as soon as 
they are arrived at the years of maturity, they embarked 
with Jason, on the Argonautick expedition. In this ad- 
venture both behaved with signal courage. The latter 
conquered and slew Amycus, in the combat of the ces- 
tus, and was after considered the god and patron of box- 
ing and wrestling. The former distinguished himself 
in the * management of horses. After their return from 
Colchis they freed the Hellespont and the neighbouring 
pass from pirates, from which circumstance they have 
always been deemed the protectors of seamen. They 
were invited to the nuptial feast of Lycas and Idas, 
where becoming enamoured w^ith the brides (:he daugh- 
ters of Leucippus) a battle ensued, in which Lycas fell 
by the hand of Castor, who was killed by Idas. Pollux 
revenged the death of his brother in the blood of Idas. 
Pollux, tenderly attached to his brother, and inconsola- 
ble for his loss, entreated Jupiter either to restore Cas- 
tor to life, or permit him to resign his own immortality; 
Jupiter listened benignly to his prayer, and cg.nsented 
that the immortality of Pollux should be shared with his 
brother, and that it should be alternately enjoyed by 
them. This act of fraternal love Jupiter rewarded by 
making the two brothers constellations in heaven, under 
the name of Gemini. 

7. Germanicus, son of Drusus and Antonia, is sup- 
posed to be represented by this statue. The style of the 
hair indeed indicates a Roman personage, but it cannot 
be this prince, for medals, and other monuments, repre- 
sent him very differently, A more attentive examina- 
tion of this figure discovers an analogy with that of Mer- 
cury ; the extended position of the right arm, the chalmys, 
thrown over the left, which holds the caduceus, and rests 
on a tortoise, consecrated to this god as the inventor of 
the lyre, favor this idea. But a more reasonable con- 
jecture might be admitted, that under these forms and 
with the attributes of the god of eloquence, the ingeni- 



* Debeliator equorum. 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 349 

ous artist has portrayed a Roman Orator celebrated for 
his powers on the rostrum. This beautiful statue in Pa-| 
rian marble is the work of Cleomenes the Athenian, and^ 
is not more valuable for the superiour excellence and 
symmetry of the form, than for its present preservation. 
It is taken from the gallery of Versailles, where it was 
placed in the reign of Louis XI V. It may also be seen 
at Rome in the Villa Montalto or Negroni. 

8. Cerea. The original of this charming figure is of 
Parian marble : the correctness of its form, and delica- 
cy of its drapery, entitle it to be called a model of taste. 
It is clad in a tunick, over which is thrown a mantle 
or peplum ; both are finished in so masterly a manner, 
that through the mantle are perceived the knots of the 
cord, which ties the tunick round her waist. It was 
taken from the musuem of the Vatican, having been 
placed here by Clement XIV. It previously ornamented^ 
the Villa Mattel on Mount Esquiline, and was then in- 
complete. The artist, who repaired this statue, having 
placed in its hand some ears of wheat, the name of 
Ceres has probably from that circumstance been given 
to it : otherwise the virginal character of the head, and 
simplicity of its head dress, would induce a belief that 
the muse Clio v/as intended by it, and that a book 
should have been placed in the hand instead of the 
ears of wheat. 

9. Sileims^ with the infant Bacchus, or the reposing 
faun to the description of which this statue seenis to 
answer, except that the figure is described as holding 
a flute in its right hand. The grace, which reigns 
in the figure, and the numerous copies of the original, 
whivh seems more properly executed in bronze, than 
in marble, would lead us to conjecture that this might 
be an antique copy of the Faun or Satyr of Praxitiles^ 
worked in bronze, of which the reputation was so great 
in Greece that they distinguished it for its excellence 
by the name of 5rf^//3o£ro5, or the famous. This statue in 
Pentelican marble (so called from its quarry in Mount 
Pentelus near to Athens) was found in 1701, near to 
Lanuvium, now called Civita Lavinia, where Marcus 
Aurelius had a pleasure house. Benedict XIV. had it 
placed in the Museum of the Capitol. 

10. Ahtinoiis of the Capitol, This young and amiable 
Bythyriian, to whom the gratitude of the emperour 
Adrian raised such numerous monuments, we find here 
represented as scarcely having attained maturity. He 



350 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

is naked j his position leaning, and the style of the 
hair, are somewhat similar to Mercury, whose wand 
probably he held in his right hand. In spite of the 
youthfulness expressed in this statue, we see imprinted 
in the expression of the face, and in the head, inclined 
towards the earth, that settled melancholy sadness by 
which we distinguish his portraits, and which has made 
this line of Virgil on Marcellus, applicable to him. 
Sed frons lacta parum, et dejecto lumina vultu. 

The fore arm and left leg are modern. This beauti- 
ful statue in marble de Luni, comes from the Museum 
of the Capitol, where it was placed after having been 
in the collection of the Cardinal Alexander Albani, 

11. Fragment of a statue of Hercules^ called the Torse 
of the Behidere, The remains of this admirable statue, 
although deprived by time of the head, the arms and 
the legs, appear to represent the son of Jupiter and 
Alcmena, at the moment when he becomes immortal on 
Mount Oeta. The lion's skin thrown on the rock 
where the figure is sitting, and the amazing size of the 
limbs leave no doubt of the true subject of this statue. 

The sculptor has delineated no veins in the body of 
the hero, which is wonderful, as he is not represented 
in his youth, and his great muscular strength appears 
to exclude that plumpness of form, which alone could 
require the suppression of the veins. Winkelmann is of 
opinion, that the artist, by this, wishes to indicate the 
Apotheosis of Hercules, who is just about to change 
into a God on the funeral pile of Mount Oeta. 

When we examine with attention, this incomparable 
fragment, we see many indications that the figure of Al- 
cides was in a group with another figure placed on its 
left. The fable of the Apotheosis of Hercules recalls 
to us Hebe, the goddess of youth, that the new god had 
just obtained for his wife. A modern sculptor, M. 
Flaxman, an Englishman, has attempted to restore, in 
this sense, the copy of the Torse, and his essay has been 
crowned with the most complete success. This piece 
of sculpture, in Pentelican marble, presents on the rock, 
the following inscription (in Greek) " The work of Apol- 
lonius the son of Nestor, an Athenian." The account 
which we have is probably correct, that this precious 
fragment was dug up at Rome, towards the close of the 
fifteenth century, near the theatre of Pompey, now the 
Campo dl Toire. It appears very probable, that it was 
in the time of Pompey this Athenian artist flourished in 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 351 

Rome. Julius 2d placed this Torse in the garden of 
the Vatican, as well as the Apollo and the Laocoon. It 
served there for ages as a study for the Michael Ange- 
los, Raphaels, and the Carracchis, to which we are in- 
debted for the perfection of the Fine Arts. Artists have 
always known it under the vulgar name of the Torse of 
the Belvidere. There exists nothing of ancient sculp- 
ture executed in grander style. 

12. ApolUne^ or, the Toung Apolh. This statue is 
naked, and is supposed to hold his lyre in his left hand. 
This beautiful little figure, in Parian marble, is done in 
fine style. 

13. The Torsoy or, the Trunk of Cupid^ called the 
Grecian Cupid. This beautiful figure is known by the 
name of the Grecian Cupid, who was sometimes, as in 
this instance, represented under the maturer age of ado- 
lescence, and possessed a character much more mild and 
reasonable than that attributed to the son of Mars and 
Venus. The supposition that this statue was intended 
for a Cupid is, perhaps, drawn from the evident marks 
of its having been originailly with wings, one of the at- 
tributes of his divinity ; but however the intention of 
the artist may be mistaken as to the subject, it will re- 
main a monument of his excellence in his art. This 
beautiful fragment in Parian marble is taken from the 
museum of the Vatican, and was found at Centocelle, 
on the route from Rome to Palestrina, the same place 
where the fine statue of Adonis was found, which is now 
in the Louvre, It is likely, that this figure and many 
other copies of it which carry the quiver and the bow, 
were executed after the celebrated Cupid of Praxitiles 
which was to be seen at Parium. 

14. The first set of muscles in the human subject^ by 
the artist Houdon. A full length statue intended for 
students which is so highly esteemed, and seems so well 
calculated for the purposes of the Academy, that it has 
been introduced from a conviction of its usefulness. As 
auxiliary to young designers, the feet and hands of the 
Farnese Hercules^ two casts of mouths and noses from 
the antique, and two ears by a modern artist, are also 
here. 

15. A small copy of the Farnese Hercules^ which is 
said to be admirably executed. 

16. A small copy in marble of the Venus de Medici^ 
and 



352 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

ir. A small copy in marble of Ant i nous of the Capitol^ 
both presented to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine 
Arts, by Henry WycofF, Esq. of Philadelphia. 

Among the busts distinguished for the elegance of the 
workmanship, or the interest of the characters, are the 
following: 

1. The Mask of Jupiter, Among the antique monu- 
ments which present us the image of this chief of gods 
and men, there is none more grand or pleasing than 
this. The serenity, the sweetness, and the majesty, 
which reign in all the features of this sublime head, 
give a perfect idea of the attributes which the ancients 
give to Jupiter. This head, in marble de Luni^ is ta- 
ken from the Museum of the Vatican, where Pius VI 
placed it. It was found in the ruins of the Colonia Ocri- 
culana^ now called Otricoli, about seventeen leagues 
from Rome on the Flaminian road. It probably belong- 
ed to a colossal statue. 

2. Homer, This fine bust represents the immortal 
Homer, the father of Grecian poetry, and to whom 
seven cities disputed the honour of having given birth. 
The bandeau, or diadem which encircles his head, is the 
emblem of the divinity which his exalted genius merit- 
ed, and which obtained him the honour of his apotheosis. 
The formation of the eyes, of admirable execution, in- 
dicates blindness, a misfortune under which this poet is 
generally supposed to have laboured. This bust in Pen- 
telican marble, is taken from the museum of the Capitol. 
It was first discovered by the antiquary Ficoroni^ who 
accidentally met with it in the place of a common stone 
in the wall of the palace Caetani^ he bought it and gave 
it to the Cardinal Alexander Albania who sold it after- 
wards to Clement XII. Although the portrait of Ho- 
mer has always been considered doubtful, even among 
the ancients, it is yet well known that busts, similar 
to this, have passed under his name. 

3. Diana^ of Versailles, The superb statue from 
which this bust is taken, is in Parian marble, and we 
are informed of its being in France during the reign of 
Henry IV. It was without doubt the most perfect of 
all the antiques^ which v/ere to be found there, before 
the conquest of Italy enriched France with so many 
chef d"* (SUV res. 

4. The Head of Rome ^ of which the entire statue is 
now at Rome in Parian marble. This bust is taken from 
the gallery of the Chateau de Richelieu. 



AUD IMP&0V£Jk££NT8« H&H 

$• A Faun, suspended from a tree, probably a persom* 
Ecation of the river Tiber. 

6. Minerva* This bust is antique, and being in the 
same style of a very elegant statue in Pentelican marble, 
which was known in the ducal palace of Modena, it is 
supposed to have been taken Irom it* 

r. Venus of Aries. This bust is taken from a statue 
found at Aries ^ in 1651, and which makes one of the 
principal ornaments of the gallery at Versailles. It is in 
Greek marble, andthis bust was worked by J!/<?//(a;i in 1669. 

8. Euripides. This bust presents to us the features 
of one of the most celebrated tragick poets of Greece. 
The correctness of this portrait is proved by its entire 
resemblance to another bust which is at Rome, and on 
which the name of Euripides is engraven in Greek. It 
is executed in Pentelican marble, and taken from the 
academy at Mantua. 

9. Cicero. This bust, executed in Pentelican marble, 
is taken from the museum of the capitol at Rome. 

10. Hippocrates., the father of medicine, was born at 
Cos, about 460 yeare before the vulgar era, and is here 
represented in his most advantageous age. The cor- 
rectness of this portrait, as well as those which are at 
Rome and Florence, is known by its resemblance to 
one which is preserved on a medal, struck at Cos, his 
birth-place, and which was found in the cabinet of FuU 
vius Ursinus. 

11. Demosthenes. The statue from which this bust is 
taken was formerly at the villa Montalto., now Negroni., 
on mount Esquiline, whence Pius VI transported it to the 
Vatican. This head is antique. 

12. Socrates. Proofs of the correctness of this like- 
ness may be found in the fifth volume of the description 
of the museum oi Pio Clementino. 

13. Seneca. This bust is taken from a fine statue in 
the Borghese Palace. 

14. Diogenes. 

15. Lucius Junius Brutus., taken from a bust in bronze 
at the capitol in Rome. 

16. Ulysses. 

17. Alexander the Great. 

18. Alexander Severus. 

19. Vespasian. 

20. Nero., the last of the Cesars of the race of Augus- 
tus. The portrait of this monster is not flattered in this 
bust, which delineates the unrelenting frown of a negro 

?< z 



354 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

driver, and the insolent air of an unprincipled ruffian 
in power. This is copied from the bronze which was 
moulded from the original in the 16th century. 

21. Titus, 

22. Caracalla, The ferocious look and the turn of the 
head towards the left side, make this portrait in Pen- 
telican marble, an exact resemblance of the celebrated 
Farnesian bust of this cruel emperoun 

23. Vitelliusy is taken from the hall of antiques in 
the Louvre. 

24. Sappho. 

26. Group of Niobe, Among the busts which orna- 
ment the museum, this group, with the head of Niobe, 
ought to engage particular attention, from the acknow- 
ledged purity of style that reigns throughout the heads 
w^hich compose it. The Abbe Winkelmann, a most 
classical judge of the arts, has pronounced the head of 
Niobe to be a model of the highest style of beauty ; 
and Guido^ the painter of the Graces^ made it his pe- 
culiar study. The age of their execution is supposed 
to be that of the highest glory of the arts, that is, 
in the time of Phidias i but it is not ascertained whe- 
ther the statues, which now compose this interesting 
group at Florence, are the originals or not. By the 
jealousy and hatred of Latona, the children of Niobe 
fell victims to the darts of Apollo and Diana, and the 
expression of Niobe is strongly indicative of peculiar 
distress. 

PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM,^ 
FROM THE PORT FOLIO. 

This museum is the property of Charles W. Peale, 
who began it in 1785, with some bones of the Mam- 
moth, and the Paddle-fish, which were then added to his 
picture gallery : shortly after, relinquishing his profes- 
sion as a portrait painter, his exertions were directed, 
and have been ever since devoted to the present esta- 
blishment. His persevering industry has been so far 
crowned with success — and when the plans now prepa- 
ring for execution shall be accomplished, the institution, 
in point of arrangement, preservation, and number, will 
rival in value and utility any of a similar nature. 

In 18»02 the legislature of Pennsylvania, influenced by 
^i idea of its increasing utility, granted for the use of 



AND IMPROVEMENTS, 355 

the museum, the greater part of the State-house, where 
it is now displayed in a manner better becoming the im- 
portance of the institution, and more worthy of the state 
which gave it birth. 

" Here, undisturbed, 

By noisy folly, and discordant vice. 

On nature muse with us and nature's God." Milton. 

Quadruped Room, This room which is 40 feet long, 
contains upwards of 190 quadrupeds, mounted in their 
natural attitudes — those of the larger kinds, with their 
names in gilt frames, are placed on pedestals behind 
wire netting ; the smaller quadrupeds are in glass cases 
on the opposite sides of the room ; numerical catalogues 
in frames over each case, state the genera to which they 
belong, and their specifick names in Latin, English, and 
French. The Linnaean classification is generally adop- 
ted throughout the animal department. 

Among the most remarkable of the quadrupeds are 
the long clawed Grisly Bear from the source of the Mis- 
souri ; the American Buffaloe or Bison ; the Great Aut 
Eater (seven feet eeven inches from the snout to the tip 
of the tail); the Ourang Outang, or Wild Mau of the 
Woods ; the Crested Porcupine, some of whose quills 
measure 18 inchts ; the American and New Holland 
ditto ; Madagascar Bats, measuring 4 feet from tip to 
tip ; the Hooded Bat, &c. The Lama or Camel qf 
South America; the untameable Hyaena, and fierce 
Jackall ; American Elks; the Picary, remarkable for a 
secretory organ on its back ; the slow moving Bradypus 
or Sloth ; Antelopes from Africa ; the Indian Musk of 
astonishing agility ; and the Kangaroo, or Opossum 
from Botany Bay, &c. Various horns gf different 
animals. 

And a large electrical machine sufficiently powerful 
to give a moderate shock, without the Leyden phial. 

Long Room, Linnseus's classification of birds, with 
the characters of each order and genus, is, for want of 
space to display it better, exhibited in a gilt frame at the 
entrance of the Long Room. All the birds are in glass 
cases, the insides of which are painted to represent ap- 
propriate scenery \ mountains, plains, or waters, the 
birds being placed' on branches or artificial rocks, &c. 
These cases, rising 12 feet from the floor, extend the 
whole length of this room, which is 100 feet, producing 
an uncommonly elegant display. 

The first order, rapacious birds, begins in the upper 
row at the head of the room, and extends nearly to the 



356 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

centre ; each succeeding order beginning at the left, and 
extending to the right. In frames over each case, th« 
genus is first noted, then their species, and names in 
Latin, English, and French, referring to the numbers 
which are attached to each species. 

There are now in this collection (including many non- 
descripts) perhaps all the birds belonging to the middle, 
many of which likewise belong to the northern or south- 
ern states ; and a considerable number from South Ame- 
rica, Europe, Africa, Asia, New Holland, and the new 
discovered islands in the South seas. The variety of 
interesting objects in this department is too great parti- 
cularly to enumerate a few ; the number exceeds 760, 
without the admission of any duplicates contained in 
140 cases. 

On projecting cases, between the windows at the west 
end of the room, is a classification of 400O insects in gilt 
frames. Those species which are too small to be exa- 
mined with the naked eye are placed in microscopick 
wheels with the numbers continued from the glass 
frames ; there are also two other compound microscopes 
6f a new construction, adapted to a large collection of 
choice insects, one for opaque and the other for transpa- 
rent objects, with a catalogue of each. 

Projecting between the windows at the east end of the 
room, are glass cases containing minerals and fossils, 
arranged according to Kirwan. Among the clays are 
some American specimens, equal to those of which the 
Hnest porcelain is made, in China, or France ; various 
fine coloured earths, proper for pigments ; a variety of 
handsome chrystals and precious stones, among which 
the North American Topaz. Among the calcareous 
specimens in case 1, are, a petrifick incrustation of a 
bird's nest and eggs ; a petrified fish from the top of a 
mountain near Naples ; an elegant concretion of small 
cornu-ammonis. It is of importance that this depart- 
ment should, and, it is hoped, ere long will contain a 
more complete collection of American minerals, accom- 
panied with a description of the quantity, and situation 
where found. 

In case 2. Vesuvian Lavas, polished ; curious stones : 
Amber enclosing perfect Insects ; Sulphurs, Bitumens, 
Native Gold, Silver, and other ores — among which the 
splendour of the iron is most conspicuous. 

Case 3, contains a valuable collection of Fossil Shells 
from Hampshire, England; a variety of Petrifactions 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 35.7" 

and Incrustations — among them the great American 
Oyster, Clam, and Pediculus Marinus found with the 
Mammoth ; Shrimp, Crabs, Fishes, Ferns, &c. and an 
elegant polished segment of a Cornu-Ammonis, showing 
the cellular structure. 

Case 4, contains miscellaneous articles — among whicK 
are a lock of silvery hair of the beautiful Nictalops of 
England ; various Calculi, Coins, &c. and five jars 
showing the result of Dr. Hunter's analysis of Citjf 
Pump Water, viz. 220 gallons of water evaporated 
yielded 24 oz. common salt, 32 oz. Salt Petre, 17 oz- 
Magnesia, and 12 oz. Lime ! 

Over the birds, in handsome gilt frames, are tw© 
rows of Portraits of distinguished personages, painted 
from the life, by C. W. Peale and his son Rembrandt. 
This collection was begun in 1779, and contains various 
other characters of distinction beside civil and military ; 
such as Franklin, Priestly, Rittenhouse, Sir Joseph 
Humboldt, he. — Their names are in frames over each 
portrait, yet there is a number which refers to a con- 
cise account of each person in small frames on the 
opposite cases. Of seventy persons here pourtrayed, 
forty are dead — Some portaits of a larger size adorn 
each end of the room. One of J. Hutton of Philadel- 
phia, who died aged 108 years and four months. 

In a gallery in the centre, between the windows, is 
an excellent organ for the use of such visiters as are 
acquainted with musick. 

A person attends in this room with Hawkins' inge- 
nious Physiognotrace, for the purpose of drawing pro* 
files,* 

Marine Room. In the centre of the room, supported 
©n a pedestal, stands the Chama, a shell three feet 
long, and 185 pounds weight ; a pair of them are be- 
hind the railings. 

A railing at each end of the room encloses the 
larger Fishes and amphibious Animals, on each of which 
in a gilt frame, is the respective name, viz. Sharks, 
Lizards, Sword, and Saw-fishes, Sun-fish remarkable 
for having neither flesh nor bones, being wholly cartila- 
ginous, and equally extraordinary for its bulk and form 
more resembling the head of an immense fish than an 



• The attendant is allowed to receive 8 cents for cutting out each 
aet of profiles, from such as choose to employ him. 



558 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

entire one. The smaller Fishes, Lizards, Tortoises, 
Snakes, Snakes with two heads, &c. are displayed in 
two large glass cases, on inclined shelves, with num- 
bers referring to a framed catalogue. The tops of the 
cases are ornamented with artificial rock work, sup- 
porting marine productions, such as corals, sea fans, 
feathers, &c. 

Between the windows, projecting six feet into the 
room, are four glass cases, containing a classical ar- 
rangement of shells, corals, sponges, &c. 

Against the wall are sundry skins of large snakes ; 
one 16 feet long (Amboiya) from South America, and 
the beaks of sea fishes. 

Arts and Antiquity, This part of the Museum is in 
the Philosophical Hall.^ 

Mammoth Room, Contains the skeleton of the Mam- 
moth which was discovered in Ulster county (New 
York) in 1801. It is the first put together, and is as 
▼aluable as it is stupendous — being an almost per- 
fect skeleton, the bones belonging to one animal, 
and very few deficient. It is 11 feet 10 inches high, 
and 19 feet long. A particular account, by Rembrandt 
Peale,f of its discovery, with many interesting remarks 
on it, is in 92 gilt frames, hung up in a convenient 
gallery for viewing the skeleton. 

The Mammoth is a nondescript, and as it is called, 
Antedeluvian animal, with carnivorous grinders ; and 
although formerly supposed to be a species of elephant, 
yet differing from it, and from all other animals in 
several extraordinary particulars. Since the year 1740 
the learned have been gratified with the occasional dis- 
covery of various mutilated collections of similar bones ; 
but it was not until 1801, that C. W. Peale, after great 
exertions, was enabled to obtain this skeleton. Some 
bones of the Mammoth first gave rise to the Museum 
in 1785, which, sixteen years after, possessed the first 
entire skeleton. 

Here is also part of the skull of an animal of the ox 
kind, the pith of the horn measuring 21 inches in cir- 
cumference — probably the horns would have measured 



* To prevent mistakes, all donations intended for the Philadelphia 
Musuem should be directed to C. W. Peale, with such memorandums 
as are interesting", and the name of the donor. 

t Pamphlets of this may be had at tlie Museupi 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. " 35$ 

frorti 14 to 16 feet from tip to tip. — This precious re- 
lick belongs to the the Philosophical Societ) , by request 
of the donor, Dr. Brown, to be placed with the Mam- 
tnoth. 

There are in the same room, various small skeletons, 
such as the monkey, greyhound, parrot, ibis, ground 
hog, &c. and that of an ordinary mouse, as an object 
of contrast with the Mammoth. 

In frames hung up against the wall, are engravings 
of the whole skeleton, and detached parts of an unknown 
quadruped of the Sloth kind, of great size, found in 
South America, and now in the Museum at Madrid. 
Inside the railing are similar bores found in Virginia. 
Encircling the door are the lower jaw-bones of a whale 
13 1-2 feet long. 

Model Room, Extending across this room, in front 
of the windows, is a case containing 1400 elegant casts 
from antique gems which are a part of the collection in 
the Antique Room ; a silver salt seller, which belong* 
ed to Oliver Cromwell, presented by Mrs. Washington ; 
antique pot, household gods, and bas reliefs, from the 
cities of Herculaneum and Pompei : curiously fabric 
cated earthen pots found in South America — (in case 3 
is a pot resembling these, found in Tennessee, 25 feet 
deep ;) Chinese instruments and ornaments, and a con- 
siderable variety of such as are used by the Aborigines 
of North and South America, such as wrought tubes of 
stone, chrystal hatchets, &c. 

Around the room are displayed some paintings, and 
a number of Indian curiosities, models of canoes, spears, 
bows and arrows, clubs, paddles, baskets, the Phoonka 
or great Chinese fan, Chinese match gun, and ancient 
bow gun, &c. 

Here is the beginning of a collection of models of 
useful, foreign, and domestick machinery^— such as the 
Chinese plough and wheel-barrow j Cottle's thrasiiing 
machine ; a dry dock ; improved spinning wheel, &c. 
On the floor stands a throne of curious workmanship, 
said to be executed by the king of the Pelew Islands, 
out of a solid piece. 

In cases 2 and 3, are models in wax, the size of life, 
of the following characters, drest in their real and pe- 
culiar habiliments, viz. — Chinese labourer and gentle- 
man ; inhabitant of Oonalaska ; Kamskadale ; an Afri- 
can ; a Sandwich Islander ; an Otaheitan ; a South 
American ; and Blue Jacket and Red-pole ; celebrated 



3^ ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

sachems of North America. These cases likewise coa-» 
tain a great variety of articles of Indian dress and or- 
oaments of extraordinary workmanship. 

Antique Room» Contains several fine casts from the 
celebrated statues of antiquity, deservedly the admira. 
tion of the world, such as the ApoUo de Belvidere, 
the fighting and dying Gladiators, the Antinous, Melea. 
ger, Venus of the Capitol, Venus Calliope, the crouching 
Venus, Paris, together with Hudson's Diana, besides 
12 busts, and 10 basso relievos. We are indebted for 
these casts to the taste and liberality of Mr. Smith, the 
brother of William Loughton Smith, Esq. of South 
Carolina, who deposits them with Mr. Peale until they 
form part of an American academy of the fine arts. 

P. S. As this museum, like all others, has necessarily 
grown into importance by mc:<ns of a gradual increase 
from the collection and careful preservation of indivi« 
dual subjects ; the same means pursued with unceasing 
care will ensure its greater perfection. The proprietor 
therefore solicits the assistance of gentlemen travelling 
into foreign countries, into whose hands articles occa* 
sionally fall, which are rendered valuable in a collective 
view, but otherwise lost to the publick, and of little value 
to the possessors, 

1»ATENT IRON BOUND BOOTS, BOOTEES, AND SHOES. 

These are manufactured by Mr. John Bedford of Phi^ 
ladelphia, and appear to be preferable in many respects 
to those which are made in the ordinary method. The 
patentee in his advertisement informs the publick, that 
*' shoemakers by his improvement are able to make four 
times the quantity of shoes that can be made in the com- 
mon way with the same number of hands ; for exampbe, 
the usual work of three men, is only three pair of com- 
mon shoes per day ; whereas in the improved way, three 
men with the assistance of a boy, can make from twelve 
to fifteen pair per day. Thus the advantages, resulting 
from the improvement are evidently of the most essen- 
tial importance. In the first place three fourths of the 
labour is saved ; in the second place half the leather is 
sared, for one pair of shoes made in this way will wear 
as long as two pair made in the usual way ; and in the 
third place, there is a saving of flax, at the rate of one 
pound to twenty pair of shoes, they are also much more 
water proof than the others, and easier mended. 



AND IMt>ROVEMENT*. 36t 

" These at*e well ascertained facts, proved by actual 
experience. The patentee therefore hopes, that an im- 
pt-ovement fraught with such important publick utility, 
will not only engage the attention, but the encourage- 
ment of every friend to the infant manufactures of this 
country. It may not be amiss to remark^ that the coun- 
try shoemaker in particular, may derive incalculable 
advantages from this improvement, as he can supply his 
customers in one fourth of the time he has usually devo- 
ted to that purpose^ and have the other three fourths for 
the cultivation of his farm or other avocations. 

" Price of patent rights, for the country, one hundred 
dollars ; for states, districts, or towns, in proportion* 

The Editor has purchased a pair of boots made ac- 
cording to Mr. Bedford's patent, which he has reason 
to believe (not having had them long in possession) will 
fully justify him in corroborating the statement of Mr. 
Bedford relative to the advantages resulting from this 
improvement. 

The Pneumatick Cock^ is a simple, ingenious, and useful 
contrivance for tapping air-tight casks, which obviates 
the necessity of a vent peg. The inventor, Mr. Robert 
Hare, jun. in giving a description of this invention ob- 
serves, " it is well known that an air-tight cask is usually 
tapped by means of two apertures, one in the upper part 
for the admission of air, the other below for the emis* 
sion of the fluid ; or in other words, by means of a 
vent peg and cock. This method would not be very ob* 
jectionable, were the vent peg always firmly replaced 
as soon as the admission of air becomes no longer neces- 
sary ; but this is seldom attended to, and the conse- 
quence is the frequent sourness or vapidity of vinous 
liquors. The quantity of liquor thus annually spoiled 
by this omission of vent-^egs, must be immense ; and 
must be particularly great in those families where tap- 
sters are too numerous to be responsible for neglect. 

To obviate these evils, Mr. Hare has contrived a cock 
with two perforations which are opened or shut by turn- 
ing the same key, the air entering at the upper perfora- 
tion the fluid passing out at the lower, with a velocity 
proportioned to the depth of the emitting orifice below 
that which admits the air into the cask. The fixed air 
however, which is generated in casks containing vinous 
liquors will sometimes more than counteract the pres- 
sure of the atmosphere, and thus dispose the liquor to 
issue through every aperture. In this case while the cock 

5 A 



362 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

is open it will be necessary to close the upper orifice 
with the thumb, while the fingers are holding the key. 

The cock must be of a bended form so that the key- 
may be situated below the orifice which receives the 
liquor, and the nozle should taper downwards in order 
to give a sufficient velocity to the fluid from the cask.* 

HYDROSTATICK BLOW-PIPE* 

This is an invention of the same gentleman whose in^ 
genious contrivance was the subject of the last article, 
and will prove of great use to the artist. 

It consists of a cask in length thirty-two inches, and 
its least diameter eighteen inches. It is divided by a 
partition into two apartments ; the upper and external 
apartment is in depth fourteen inches ; the lower and in- 
ternal apartment is in depth sixteen inches, and contains 
a sheet and pipe of copper which descend into it nine 
inches, forming two equal compartments of that depth. 
The sheet and pipe of copper are soldered together and 
inserted into the partition* The edges of the sheet were 
slid down into corresponding joints in the staves of the 
cask until the partition obtained its proper situation. 
Cooper's flags were then passed into the joints, and the 
hoops were driven on the cask. 

In the lower apartment of the cask is placed a pair of 
bellows, the bottom of the cask serving for the bottom 
of the bellows. In the centre of this bottom there is a 
hole, round which, at the distance of one inch from its 
centre is a circular rim of wood. On this is nailed a 
valve opening upwards. The top of the bellows is a cir- 
cular piece of wood seven inches in diameter and two 
in thickness. In its centre there is a hole one inch and 
a half in diameter. Around this hole is a circular orbit, 
in which is nailed a valve opening upwards. In this top, 
at the distance of one inch from its perimeter, is a circu* 
lar dovetailed furrow filled with lead. The body of the 
bellows is composed of strong hose leather, so as to be 
water tight. Before it was fixed to the other parts of 
the bellows its form was that of a hollow frustrum of a 
cone, of which the perpendicular and greatest diameter 



* For a more particular account of this invention we would refer 
our readers to Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 
vol, vi. part i. p 105, 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 363 

were each eight inches, and whose least diameter was 
six inches and a half. It was more easily fastened to its 
appendages when of this conical form than when cylin- 
drical. It was kept distended by two iron rings to which 
it was sewed fast. 

This bellows is worked by an iron rod which passes 
from its top through the copper pipe and the top of the 
cask, and may be worked by a handle or lever over a 
perpendicular piece or standard of timber, or by foot, 
by means of a stirrup appended to the handle. 

This bellows is so contrived by the ingenious inventor 
that by distending it by means of the rod and lever, it is 
supplied with air or gas, by the vacuum thus made, 
which is gradually again discharged by directing a small 
hose and blow-pipe to a lamp or candle, the blaze 
of which may be directed to the subject of operation; 
and substances may thus be fused which have been 
hitherto deemed infusible. Perhaps, however, it would 
be impossible to obtain an adequate idea of this inven- 
tion without consulting the original paper and the draw- 
ings accompanying it, as first published by order of the 
Chymical Society, Philadelphia, and afterwards repub- 
lished in the fourteenth volume of Mr. Tilloch's maga- 
zine, London, and likewise in the Annales de Chimie 
tome 45. 

We learn, likewise, by a paper from the same author, 
subsequently published in the Transactions of the Ame- 
rican Philosophical Society, that by the aid of this appa* 
ratus strontites may be fused, and platina volatilized. 
We must, however, refer those who would enter mi- 
nutely into the subject, to the papers alluded to in the 
two last articles. 

Improvement in printing. In the art of printing, an 
important improvement invented by Mr. Hugh Max- 
well, has been made and in practical use in three print- 
ing offices of Philadelphia. The improvement consists 
of a roller used for inking the type. The advantages of 
which are greater regularity in the distribution of the 
ink, a perfect equality of colour, with a trifling atten- 
tion, a considerable saving in the expense of printing, 
and a cleanliness, as respects picks, monks, and friars, 
not to be attained by the utmost care with the common 
balls. Another advantage which will be felt by every 
printer who adopts this plan, the accident of drawing 
letters so destructive to printing type, so injurious to 



364 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

part of the machinery of the press, and frequently pro- 
ductive of gross errours, is totally avoided. 

The machine is light and pleasant work for a boy of 
ten or twelve years of age, and proves on actual trial 
a saving on each press to which it is constantly used of 
about six dollars per week, and the quantity of work 
performed on one press is more than what can be done 
in the usual way. One of those machines has been in 
constant operation for seven months, and during that 
period has not required one hour's attention. There 
is no preparation necessary, but cleaning, which is per- 
formed in a few minutes. The trouble of preparing 
new balls, and knocking up balls, which on the old plan 
consumes so much time is in this machine totally saved. 
It is computed, that in saving of time one fifth more can 
be done per day than on the old plan, with all the supe- 
riorities enumerated. 

Two of those machines are now in constant use in the 
printing office of Smith and Maxwell, one in the office 
of Benjamin Johnson, and one in the office of Thomas 
S. Manning, where they may be seen at work. 

The machine is furnished complete for one hundred 
dollars. 

A carpet manufactory^ has lately been established in 
Philadelphia, by John Dorsey, Esq. in which carpeting 
is manufactured of a quality not inferiour to the best im- 
ported. 

MANUFACTURES IN DELAWARE. 

In Wilmington there are, according to Dr. Morse^ 
a cotton manufactory, and a boulting cloth manufactory. 
In the county of Newcastle are several fulling juills, 
two snuff mills, one slitting mill, four paper mills, and 
sixty for grinding grain, all of which are turned by 
water. " But though Wilmington and its neighbourhood 
are probably already the greatest seat of manufacture 
in the United States, yet they are capable of being 
much improved in that respect, as the country is hilly 
and abounds with running water. The Brandywine 
might, with a moderate expense, when compared with 
the object, be brought to the top of the hill on which 
Wilmington is situated, whereby a fall sufficient for 
forty mills, in addition to those already built would be 
obtained." On the Brandywine are twelve merchant 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 365 

mills which contain double that number of pairs of mill 
stones of large dimensions and superiour construction. 
A saw mill completes the group, and they may all 
be seen at one view. It is thought that the mills on 
the Brandywine are capable of manufacturing 400,000 
bushels in a year. These mills employ about 200 per- 
sons, including the coopers, who manufacture the casks^ 
and others employed in operations connected with the 
mills. The navigation to these mills is such, that a 
vessel carrying 1000 bushels of wheat may be laid along 
side of any of them. Vessels containing 1000 bushels 
of wheat frequently come up with the flood tide, un- 
lade and go away with the succeeding ebb with 300 
barrels of flour on board. In consequence of machines 
introduced by Mr. Oliver Evans, the specification of 
whose patent for such machines we have published 
in the preceding pages three fourths of the manual 
labour necessary before his inventions is saved in the 
manufacturing of flour in these mills, 

MANUFACTURES, &C. OF MARYLAND. 

Mines of iron of an excellent quality have been found 
in many .parts of this state. Furnaces for making pigs 
and hollow ware of this ore are erected in various parts 
of the state. Mines of coal, simil'ar to the Virginia 
coal have been discovered and opened within a mile of 
Baltimore. In Frederick county, according to Dr. 
Morse, are eighty grist mills, two glass works, two 
iron works, two furnaces ; between two and four hun- 
dred stills, and two paper mills. 

In no part of the United States has there been more 
spirit displayed and greater exertions made for esta- 
blishing useful manufactories than in Baltimore. A 
company has lately been established for that purpose, 
who it is said are bound to invest no less than half a 
million of dollars in promoting and establishing the 
manufactures of Maryland. They have already begun 
to erect manufactories for spinning of cotton, and have 
other kinds of new manufactories in contemplation. 

An aqueduct has lately been made for supplying the 
city with water. In this it is intended that a fall of 
a part of the water conducted in this aqueduct shall 
raise by appropriate machinery another part to supply 
those parts of the town which are above the head of 
the aqueduct, while the water which falls will be con- 



366 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

ducted onward for the supply of the lower part of the 
town. 

AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, CANALS, &C. OF VIR- 
GINIA. 

In the year 1785, the legislatures of Virginia and 
Maryland passed acts to encourage the opening of the 
navigation of the Potomack river by means of locks at 
the falls which impeded it. A company had likewise 
been incorporated in Virginia for the purpose of ex- 
tending the navigation of James river from the tide 
water to the mountains. In the first of these corpora- 
tions, general Washington was presented by the legisla- 
ture of Virginia with fifty shares of lOOl. sterling each, 
and in the latter with one hundred shares of 100 dollars 
each. These donations were accepted by General 
Washington on conditions expressed in his will, that 
these shares should be appropriated as follows : The 
fifty shares in the Potomack company " towards the en- 
dowment of a university, to be established within the 
limits of the district of Columbia, under the auspices 
of the general government, if that government should 
be inclined to extend its fostering hand towards it ; and 
until such seminary is established, and the funds arising 
on these shares shall be required for its support, my 
further will and desire is, that the profit accruing there- 
from, shall, whenever the dividends are made be laid 
out in purchasing stock in the bank of Columbia, or 
some other bank at the discretion of my executors, or 
by the treasurer of the United States for the time being, 
under the direction of congress, provided that honoura- 
ble body should patronize the measure ; and the divi- 
dends proceeding from the purchase of such stock are 
to be vested in riiore stock, and so on, until a sum 
adequate to the accomplishment of the object is ob- 
tained, of which I have not the smallest doubt before 
many years pass away, even if no aid or encourage- 
ment is given by legislative authority, or from any other 
source." 

The shares which General Washington held in the 
James river company v/ere, by another clause in the 
same will, given and confirmed in perpetuity to -the use 
and benefit of Liberty Hall Academy, in the county of 
Rockbridge, in the commonwealth of Virginia. 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 367 

Virginia possesses many valuable mines. A lump of 
gold ore has been found near the falls of Rappahannock 
river, which yielded 17 dwt. of gold. In the county of 
Buckingham, between James and Appomatox rivers have 
been found small lumps of fine gold from the size of a 
pin's head to the size of a hazlenut, to the value of se- 
veral hundred dollars. 

On the great Kenhawa opposite to the mouth of Crip- 
ple creek, and also about twenty-five miles from the 
southern boundary of the state, in the county of Mont- 
gomery are mines of lead. The metal is mixed sometimes 
with earth and sometimes with rock, which requires the 
force of gunpowder to open it ; and is accompanied with 
a portion of silver, too small to be worth separation un- 
der any process hitherto attempted there. The propor- 
tion yielded is from 50 to 80lb. of pure metal from lOOlb. 
washed ore. The most common is that of 60 lb. The 
veins are at sometimes very flattering, at others they 
disappear suddenly and totally. They enter the side of 
the hill and proceed horizontally. Two of them have 
been wrought by the publick. These would employ 
about fifty labourers to advantage. Thirty men, who 
have at the same time raised their own corn, have prO" 
duced sixty tons of lead in the year ; but the general 
quantity is from twenty to twenty-five tons. The pre- 
sent furnace is a mile from the bank and on the opposite 
side of the river. The ore is first wagoned to the river, 
a quarter of a mile, then laden on board canoes, and 
carried across the river, which is here about two hun- 
dred yards wide, and then taken into wagons and car- 
ried to the furnace. This mode was originally adopted 
that they might avail thems^ves of a good situation on 
the creek for a pounding mill ; but it would be easy to 
have the furnace and the pounding mill on the same side 
of the river, which would yield water without any dam, 
by a canal of about half a mile in length. From the 
furnace the lead is transported one hundred and thirty 
miles along a good road, leading though the Peaks of 
Otter to Lynch's ferry, or Winston's on James river, 
from whence it is carried by water about the same dis- 
tance to Westham. . This land carriage may be greatly 
shortened, by delivering the lead on James river, about 
the blue Ridge, from whence a ton weight has been 
brought in two canoes. The Great Kenhawa has con- 
siderable falls in the neighbourhood of the mines. 
About seven miles below are three falls of three or four 



368 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

feet perpendicular each ; and three miles above is a rapid 
of three miles continuance, which has been compared 
in its descent by many to the great fall on James river. 
Yet it is the opinion^ that they may be laid open for 
useful navigation, so as to reduce very much the port^ 
age between the Kenhawa and James river. ^ 

Iron mines are frequent in this state, which afford 
iron of temarkable toughness. Copper mines have been 
gpened, but did not succeed. 

The country ou each side of James river from fifteen 
to twenty miles above Richmond abounds in coal mines> 
which have been worked to an extent equal to the de- 
mand. The coal of Pittsburg is of a very superiour 
quality. Some have conjectured from appearances that 
the whole tract between the Laurel Mountain, Missi- 
sippi and Ohio yields coal. A bed of coal at Pittsburgh 
has been on fire for many years. 

Marble of a fine quality and in great abundance has 
been found on James river, at the mouth of Rockfish, 
It forms a precipice and hangs over a navigable part of 
the river. 

Mineral springs in Virginia, These are numerous 
and highly celebrated for their efficacy in a variety of dis^ 
orders. 

The acidulous water, commonly called the Sweet 
Spring, is situated between two small mountains in the 
county of Bath. This spring is plentifully supplied with 
water, and a small distance from its source assumes the 
appearance of a small river. This w^ater is whitish and 
clear, has an acidulous taste, and sulphureous after it is 
drunk. Its temperature is warm agreeing with that of 
the atmosphere in summer. They contain, in a quart, 

GRS. 

Saline substances in general - 12 to 15 
Earthy substance .- - - 18 to 24 
Iron 1 to 1 1-2 

These waters are recommended in chronical disorders. 
In debility remaining after fevers acute or intermittents ; 
disorders having vitiated humours, a viscosity of the 
' lymph, king\'i evil^ simple or complicated, swelling of 
the viscera without schirrosity, as swelling of the liver, 
spleen, pancreas, mesenterick glands, and preternatural 
heat of the body. 



* Morse. 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 369 

R^d Spring, This spring rises out of a rock of the 
argilloso calcareous kind, and spreads from the moun- 
tain in which it originates down a valley which produces 
acidulous waters in every part. This water, when 
drunk at the spring, has a very light, acidulous, chaly- 
beate taste, mixed with something putrid. It contains 
in the quart 

Grs. 
Aerial acid - - - - o 

Calcareous earth or lime - - 4 

Aerated magnesia - - , 3 

Iron aerated - - . - 2 

Selenites ----- i 

Vitriol of magnesia - - - 1 
Cabic muriatic salt . - - 1. 

Iron combined - - - - i 
These waters are gently stimulant, tonick, and anti- 
septick. In weak stomachs and bowels they are mild 
purgatives, and when the tone is restored become as- 
tringents. If there is any acrimony or sourness of the 
prima vice, they relax. 

Hepatick or Sulphureous tuater. The spring from 
whence this water flows is situated in Green Briar 
county on the west side of the Allegany, and rises out 
of a kind of freestone, mixed with mica. The hills in 
the vicinity bear evident marks of having been partially 
torrefied by subterranean fires. It contains 

Grs. 
Of hepatick air - - - - o 

Aerial acid ----- 
Calcareous earth - - - - 12 
Vitriol of magnesia - - - 5 

Selenites ----- 2 
Calcareous marine salt • - - 1| 

Iron, more or less - - - 2 

Sulphur precipitated - - - ^ 

These waters are useful in cutaneous diseases, such 
ns the itch, pimples of all kinds, red spots, whether 
scorbutick or not, fistulas, cracks of the skin, where 
the disease is merely topical. 

Red Sulphur Spring. "This is in Munro County, 
about forty miles from the sweet spring. It receives its 
name from the circumstance of the appearance of the 
sediment which the water deposits, and which is nearly 
the colour of poke berries. 

3 B 



SfO ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

" The taste of the water indicates sulphur, but not 
in so great quantity as the sulphur spring before men- 
tioned. This spring, which has not long been discovered, 
is growing into great repute, both in pulmonary com- 
plaints, and in eruptions of various kinds." 

" Berkley Springs, Are in the town of Bath and 
county of Berkley, on the river Potomack, in a fertile 
country j and have within a few years been much fre- 
quented by invalids. The water is a little warmer than 
common water and very soft. The waters prove diu- 
retick if the person walks about after drinking them. 
But if he remain quiet they will purge gently and co- 
piously. They have no particular taste : they have ren- 
dered much benefit to persons labouring under jaundice 
or affections of the liver.* 

A new mineral spring has beeh discovered in Virgi- 
nia, near Harrisburg, on the land of Mr. Taylor. Its 
temperature is warmer than that of the springs in the 
neighbourhood. It is thought to be impregnated with 
carbonick acid gas, but we do not know that its waters 
have been ever accurately analyzed. 

There are several other mineral springs in this state 
of considerable celebrity^ and we would refer the reader, 
who would wish for a more particular account of the 
virtues and the ingredients which give them their salu- 
brious qualities, to Dr* Rouelle's Treatise on the Mine- 
ral Waters of Virginia, and to the Geological Account of 
the United States, by Dr. Mease. 

AGRICULTURE, AND MANUFACTURES &Ci OF KENTUCKY. 

Of the manufactures of Kentucky we possess but 
little information. A large cotton manufactory has been 
in contemplation but we have not been able to learn 
whether it has been established. A vineyard is begun 
likewise, under the superintendence of a Swiss gentle- 
man, and in 1803 consisted of 10 acres. Here are paper 
mills, oil mills, fulling mills, and many valuable grist 
mills. 

The soil is reported to be astonishingly fertile. 
Lands of the first quality are too rich to produce wheat ; 
but will produce 50, 60, and in some instances even a 
hundred bushels of Indian corn to an acre. A species 



* Dr. Mease, 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 371 

of rye, according to Imlay, was found growing wild in 
this state and on the flats near the Ohio. It had a 
bearded ear, like the cultivated rye, the beard being 
somewhat longer and the ear less. 

Caves, according to the same author, have been disco- 
vered in this country of several miles in length, under a 
fine limestone rock, supported by curious arches and pil- 
lars. Sulphureous springs are common. One is near a 
salt spring in the neighbourhood of Boonsborough, 
There are three springs or ponds of bitumen near Green 
river, which do not form a stream but empty themselves 
into a common reservoir, and when used in lamps, an- 
swer all the purposes of the best oil. Copperas and 
alum are among the minerals of Kentucky. Near 
Lexington are found curious sepulchres full of human 
skeletons. It has been asserted that a man in or near 
Lexington, having dug five or six feet below the surface 
of the ground, came to a large flat stone, under which 
was a well of common depth artificially stoned. At the 
bottom of the falls in the Ohio, is a small rocky island, 
overflown at high water, which is remarkable for its 
petrifactions. Wood, roots, and fish bones are found 
petrified J also a hornet's nest, a bird, and several fishes^ 

MANUFACTURES, AGRICULTURE, AND ANTIQUITIES OF 
THE STATE OF OHIO, 

Ship building is carried on to a very great extent in 
this state. In the spring of 1803 the schooner "Indi- 
ana" of 100 tons, the brig " Marietta" of 130 tons, and 
another of 150 tons were built in this state. Good 
judges of naval architecture have pronounced these ves- 
sels equal in point of workmanship and materials to 
the best that have been built in America. The firmness 
and great length of their planks, and the excellency of 
their timbers (their frames being wholly composed of a 
wood which, improperly selected, has nearly the strength 
of white oak, and the durability of the live oak of the 
south without its weight) it is believed will give these 
vessels the preference over any built of the timber com- 
monly made use of, in any market where there are com- 
petentjudges. 

" This part of the country owes much to those gen- 
tlemen, who, in a new and experimental line, have set 
this example of enterprise and perseverance ; an exam- 
ple which has had its efl'ect, for several more vessels are 



57^ ON AMERICAN MANUFACTUREfa 

on the stocks ; and which has succeeded thus far beyond 
the most sanguine expectations. Indeed we may con- 
fideiitlv look forward to a time wht-n a great proportion 
of the shipping used in the United Statts will be built on 
the western waters. The materials ior this purpose are 
very abundant and excellent. 

" Of the timber, and that of the best kind, such as black 
walnut, white oak, and locust, there are inexhaustible 
quantities. 

*' The immense height of the forests, enables the work- 
men to get timber and plank of any length they wish, 
and no part of the union can furnish better masts and 
spars than are here made of the yellow pine. No 
country ran produce the article hemp in greater abun- 
dance or at a more moderate price. Even in this early 
stage of a^^riculture in this new region, its price has not 
commonly exceeded one hundred dollars a ton. Al- 
ready have two rope-walks been set up on an extensive 
scale in the town of Marietta ; and a manufactory of 
sail cloth is proposed. A few years since bar iron cost 
at the rate of three hundred dollars a ton ; but such 
advances have been m^de in the manufacture as to sup- 
ply all the demand at less than half that price. It will 
soon be as cheap as it is afforded in any part of the Uni- 
ted States. Tar in plenty is brought down the Alle- 
ghany and sold here at a reasonable rate. The abundance 
of coal fiithanthraxj for the supply of the forges 
and the workshops of artizans, and its vicinity to the 
town, to which it may be brought by water carriage ; 
together with the cheapness of provisions are additional 
circumstances in favour of this undertaking. Besides, 
difficulties apprehended in floating vessels of burthen to 
the ocean experiment has proved not to exist. The 
height of the freshets, in the spring, which commonly 
rise from thirty to forty feet perpendicular altitude, af- 
fords a sufficiency of water for large ships, if the owners 
will have the precaution to be ready in season to take 
advantage of it , and so uniform and unbroken is the 
current, that no risk is found in navigating it. 

*"*" Curiosities* In the bank of the Ohio river, about one 
hundred and thirty miles above its junction with the 
Mississippi, is a large cave called by the Indians, " the 
habitation of the Great Spirit,^^ The following descrip- 
tion of it was taken on the spot by a gentleman of ob- 
servation. " For about three or four miles before you 
come to this place, you are presented with a scene truly 
romantick. On the Indiana side of the river you see 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 373 

large ponderous rocks piled one upon another, of dif- 
ferent colours, shape, and sizes. Some appear to have 
gone through the hands of the most skilful artist; some 
represent the ruins of ancient edifices ; others thrown 
promiscuously in and out of the river, as if nature in- 
tended to show us with what ease she could handle those 
mountains of solid rock. You see again purling streams 
winding their course down their rugged front ; whose 
appearance in a moonlight night, added to the murmur- 
ing noise they occasion, is truly beautiful, though it 
rather disposes the mind to solemnity : while others pro- 
ject so far that they seem almost disposed to leave their 
doubtful situation. After a small relief from this scene, 
you come to a second, which is something similar to 
the first ; and here, with strict scrutiny you discover 
the cave. Before its mouth stands a delightful grove 
of cypress trees, arranged immediately on the bank of 
the river. They have a fine appearance, and add much 
to the place. The mouth of the cave is but a few feet 
above the ordinary level of the river, and is formed by 
a semicircular arch of about eighty feet at its base and 
twenty-five feet in height, the top projecting consider- 
ably over, forming a regular concave. From the en- 
trance to the extremity, which is about one hundred and 
eighty feet, it has a regular and gradual ascent. On 
either side is a solid bench of rock ; the arch coming to 
a point about the middle of the cave, where you disco- 
ver an opening sufficiently large to receive the body of a 
man, through which comes a small stream of a very clear 
and well-tasted water, which is made use of by those 
who visit this place. From this hole a second cave is 
discovered, whose dimensions, form, &c. are not known. 
The rock is of limestone. The sides of the cave are fill- 
ed with inscriptions, names of persons, dates, &c."* 

AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, &C. OF NORTH CARO- 
LINA. 

The pitch pine of North Carolina is said by Dr. Morse 
to be much supcriour to that of the northern states. 
It affords pitch, tar, turpentine, and lumber. This 
pine, he informs us, is of two kinds, the common and 
the long leaved. The latter has a leaf shaped like other 
pines, but is nearly half a yard in length, hanging in 
large clusters. It furnishes the best of white and red 

♦ Harris's Tour. 



374 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

oak timber. The swamps are fertile in cypress and bay 
trees. This part of the country abounds in medicinal 
plants, such as ginseng, snake-root, and an herb like 
ipecacuanha ; (lion's heart) which is a remedy for the 
bite of a serpent. 

In the river Yadkin, a little to the southward of Sa- 
lisbury, shad are caught in immense quantities in con- 
sequence of their being compelled to pass through a 
narrow rapid. 

There are in this state a number of furnaces and for- 
ges which furnish iron, reported to be of a very fine 
quality. 

A gold mine has been discovered in Cabarrus county 
which has furnished the mint of the United States with a 
very considerable quantity of virgin gold. 

We learn from the report of the director of the mint, 
that 11,000 dollars gold coin had been furnished to the 
mint of the United States, from this mine previous t® 
the year 1805. 

AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, &C. OF TENNESSEE. 

Of these the editor has no information which might 
justify him in making this a long article. Mr. Fisk 
who is quoted by Dr. Morse informs us, that 

" The piercing northerly winds that prevail during the 
winter in the Atlantick states, seldom molest the inha- 
bitants on Cumberland river ; for they have no great 
mountains to the northward or westward. The inhabi- 
tants of the Atlantick states are also subject to sudden 
changes in the atmosphere, arising from their vicinity to 
the ocean. The air that comes from the surface of the 
sea, especially from the warm gulf stream in winter, 
must be very different in its temperature from the air 
that comes across the cold and high mountains ; but the 
great distance between the Cumberland settlers and the 
ocean, considering that many great mountains intervene, 
effectually secures them against the bad effects of those 
sudden changes. North easterly storms never reach 
this country.* 

" Other circumstances present themselves, by which 
we may account for the remarkable healthiness of this 



* In the *' History of Vermont* by Dr. Williams may be found 
much information on this subject. 



, AND IMPROVEMENTS, 375 

country. Limestone is common on both sides of Cum- 
berland mountain. There are no stagnant waters ; and 
this is certainly one of the reasons why the inhabitants 
are not affected with those bilious and intermittent fe- 
vers which are so frequent, and often fatal, near the same 
latitude on the coast of the southern states. Whether it 
proceeds from the goodness of the water, the purity of 
the air, the temperature of the climate, or whatever may 
have been the cause, the inhabitants are certainly re- 
markably healthy ever since they settled on the waters 
of Cumberland river." governour blount. 

AGRICUXTURE MANUFACTURES, &C. OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 

The soil of this part of the United States is divided 
Into the pine barren, valuable for its timber. Savannas, 
which are good for grazing. Swamps, containing a 
mixture of loam and clay. In these rice is cultivated, 
which constitutes the staple commodity of the state. 
And the highlands, which are covered with oak and 
hickory. It is supposed that olives, silk and madder 
may likewise be produced in this state as well as in 
Georgia. 

At the distance of about 110 miles from the sea, the 
river swamps terminate, and the high lands extend quite 
to the rivers, and form banks in some places, several 
hundred feet high from the surface of the Water, and af- 
ford many extensive and delightful views. These high 
banks are interwoven with layers of leaves and different 
coloured earth, and abound with quarries of freestone, 
pebbles, flint chrystals, iron ore in abundance, silver, 
lead, sulphur, and coarse diamonds. 

The swamps about the head of the tide, are occasion- 
ally planted with corn, cotton, and indigo. The soil is 
very rich, yielding from forty to fifty bushels of com an 
acre.*^ 

This country abounds with precious ores, such as 
gold, silver, lead, black lead, copper and iron; but it is 
the misfortune of those who direct their pursuits in 
search of them, that they are deficient in the knowledge of 
chymistry, and too frequently make use of improper men- 
struums in extracting the respective metals. There are 



* Morse. 



376 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

likewise to be found pellucid stones of different hues, 
i-ock chrystal, pyrites, petrified substances, coarse cor- 
nelian, marble beautifully variegated, vitreous stone 
and vitreous sand ; red and yellow ochres, which, when 
roasted and ground down with linseed oil, make a very 
excellent paint ; also potter's clay of a most delicate tex- 
ture, fuller's earth, and a number of die stuffs, among 
which is a singular weed which yields four different co- 
lours its leaves are surprisingly styptick, strongly rc» 
sembling the taste of alum ; likewise an abundance of 
chalk, crude alum, sulphur, nitre, vitriol, and along the 
banks of rivers large quantities of marie may be collected. 
" There are also a variety of roots, the medicinal ef- 
fects of which it is the barbarous policy of those who 
are in the secret to keep a profound mystery. I'he 
rattle snake root, so famous amongst the Indians for the 
cure of poison, is of the number. The next is the vene- 
real root, which under a vegetable regimen, will cure a 
confirmed lues. Another root, when reduced to an im- 
palpable powder, is singularly efficacious in destroying 
worms in children. There is likewise a root, an omt- 
ment of which with a poultice of the same, will in a short 
space of time discuss the most extraordinary tumours, 
particularly what is termed the white swelling ; this root 
is very scarce. There is another root, a decoction of 
which in new milk, will cure the bloody dysentery ; the 
patient must avoid cold, and much judgment is requisite 
in the potion to be administered. There is also a plant, 
the leaves of which being bruised and applied to the 
part affected, relieves rheumatick pains ; it occasions a 
considerable agitation of the parts, attended with most 
violent and acute pains, but never fails to procure imme- 
diate ease. There is also a plant, the leaves of which 
have a most fetid smell. These leaves being boiled, 
any person afflicted with cutaneous complaints, once 
bathing therein will be radically cured. There is a 
root which acts as an excellent purge, and is well calcu- 
lated for the labouring part of mankind, as it is necessary 
only to chew it in its crude state, and it requires no 
manner of aid to facilitate its operation. An equally 
efficacious and simple purge is obtained from a weed, the 
stalk of vv^hich is red, is about three feet high, and the 
flower white ; the leaves run from the bottom of the 
stalk in opposite and corresponding lines ; the seed is 
about the size of a wheat grain, globular in the centre, 
and oblate at both ends ; it is full of oil, and tastes like a 



AND IMPROVEMENTS, 377 

walnut kernel ; 20 grains of this chewed and swallowed 
are, in point of mildness and efficacy, equal to any rhu- 
barb : and the pleasantness of its taste, as a deception to 
weak stomachs, appears to have been a design of Provi*- 
dence. In its operation it resembles castor oil. A very 
sovereign remedy is extracted from the bark of a tree, 
which may be used to great advantage in the diseases 
incident to this climate. Every climate some believe 
has its peculiar disease, and every disease its peculiar 
antidote under the same climate. In addition to the 
above is another species of bark of a sweet and nauseous 
taste ; the tree grows contiguous to a very powerful 
chalybeate spring ; the bark when sufficiently masticated, 
operates as a very potent purge and emetick, and in the 
hands of a skilful chymist may be rendered very 
serviceable. M. Barrett. 

AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, MINERAL SPRINGS, &C. 

OF GEORGIA. 

In the county of Wilkes, within a mile and a half of 
the town of Washington, is a medicinal spring which rises 
from a hallow tree, four or five feet in length. The in- 
side of the tree is covered with a coat of matter, an inch 
thick, and the leaves around the spring are incrusted 
with a substance as white as snow. It is said to be a 
sovereign remedy for the scurvy, scrofulous disorders, 
consumptions, gouts, and every other disease arising 
from humours in the blood. 

Cobb's mineral springs are situated in the county of 
Jefferson, and are famed for their medicinal virtues. 
In the summer they are a place of resort. Thirty or forty 
houses, or cabins of logs, are built for the accommoda- 
tion of visitants. 

One of the greatest curiosities in this state is the 
bank of oyster shells in the vicinity of Augusta, ninety 
miles from the sea, already described, page 192. On 
the banks of Little river, in the upper part of the state, 
are several curious and stupendous monuments of the 
power and industry of the ancient inhabitants of this 
country. Here are also traces of a large Indian town. 

The chief articles of export are rice, cotton, tobacco, 
(of which the county of Wilkes only exported in 1788, 
about 3,000 hogsheads) indigo, sago, lumber of various 
kinds, naval stores, leather, deer skins, snake root, 
mvrtle and bees wax, corn and live stock. The plan- 

3 c 



378 ON AMERICAN MANUFACTURES 

ters and farmers raise large stocks of cattle, from 1,000 
to 1,,500 head, and some more. 

The value, in sterling money, of the exports of 
Georgia, in the year 1755, was 15,744/. — in 1772, 
121,677/. sterling money. In the year 1791, 491,250 
dollars — in 1795, 695.985 dollars—in 1801, 1,755,939 
dollar.- — in 1804, 2,077,572 dollars. 

In 1755, 9 square rigged vessels, and 43 sloops, toge- 
ther making 1,899 tons, cleared out of Georgia, and in 
1772, 84 square rigged vessels, and 153 sloops, whose 
tonnage ^vas 11,246, 

In return for the enumerated exports are imported 
West India goods, teas, wines, various articles of clo- 
thing, and dry goods of all kinds. From the northern 
states, cheese, fish, potatoes, apples, cider and shoes. 
The imports and exports of this state are principally to 
and from Savannah, v.-hich has a fine harbour, and is a 
place where the principal commercial business of the 
state is transacted. The trade with the Indians in lurs 
and skins was very considerable before the war, but has 
since been interrupted by the wars in which they have 
been involved. The manufactures of this state have 
hitherto been very inconsiderable, if we except indigo, 
silk and sago. 

The manner in which the indigo is cultivated and ma- 
nufactured is as follows : The ground, which must be a 
strong rich soil, is thrown into beds of 7 or 8 feet wide, 
after having been made very mellow, and is then raked 
till it is fully pulverized. The seed is then sown in 
April, in rows at such a distance as conveniently to ad- 
mit of hoeing between them. In July the first crop is 
fit to cut, being commonly two and a half feet high. It 
is then thrown into vats, constructed for the purpose, 
and steeped about thirty hours ; after which the liquor 
is drawn oif into other vats, where it is beat, as they call 
it, bv which means it is thrown into much such a state of 
agitation as cream is by churning. After this process, 
limewater is put into the liquor, which causes the parti- 
cles of indigo to settle at the bottom. The liquor is then 
drawn off, and the sediment, which is the indigo, is ta- 
ken out and spread on cloths, and partly dried ; it is then 
put into boxes and pressed, and while it is yet soft, cut 
into square pieces, which are thrown into the sun to dry, 
and then put up in casks for the market. They have 
commonly three cuttings a season. A middle crop for 
3Q acres, is 1,30Q pounds. 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 379 

The culture of silk and the manufacture of sago are at 
present but little attended. The people in the lower 
part of this state manufacture none of their own clothing 
for themselves or their negroes. For almost every arti- 
cle of their wearing apparel, as well as for their husban- 
dry tools, they depend on their merchants, who import 
them from Great Britain and the northern states. In the 
upper parts of the country, however, the inhabitants 
manufacture the chief part of their clothing from cotton, 
hemp, and flax.* 

AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, &C» OF THE MISSISSIPPI 

TERRITORY. 

" Although this country might produce all the valua- 
ble articles raised in other parts of the globe, situated in 
the same latitudes, yet the inhabitants principally culti- 
vate indigo, rice, tobacco, Indian corn, and some wheat j 
and they raise large stocks of black cattle, horses, mules, 
hogs, sheep, and poultry. The sheep are said to be the 
sweetest mutton in the world. The black cattle, when 
fat enough for sale, which they commonly are the year 
round, are driven across the country to New Orleans, 
where there is always a good market. 

This country is principally timbered with all the dif- 
ferent kinds of oak, but mostly with live oak of the 
largest and best quality, uncommonly large cypress, 
black walnut, hickory, white ash, cherry, plum, poplar 
trees and grape vines. Here is found also a great variety 
of shrubs and medicinal roots. The lands bordering 
the rivers and lakes are generally well wooded j but at 
a small distance from them are very extensive natural 
meadows, or savannas, of the most luxuriant soil, com- 
posed of a black mould about one foot and a half deep, 
very loose and rich, occasioned in part, by the frequent 
burning of the savannas ; below the black mould is a 
stiff clay of different colours. It is said, this clay, after 
being exposed some time to the sun, becomes so hard 
that it is difficult either to break or bend, but when wet 
by a slight shower of rain, it slackens in the same manner 
as lime does when exposed to moisture, and become* 
loose and moulders away ; after which it is found excel- 
lent for vegetation. 



* Morse, 



380 ON AMERICAN MANUIACTURES 

This country being situated between the latitudes of 
30° and 31 o north, ehe climate is of course ver)- mild 
and temperate ; white frosts and sometimes thin ice, 
have been experienced here ; but snow is verj' un- 
common." 

" The soil of this country is superiour to any of the 
lands on the borders of the river Mississippi, for the pro- 
duction of many articles. Its situation being higher 
affords a greater variety of soil, and is in a more favour- 
able climate for the growth of wheat, rye, barley, oats, 
&c. than the country lower down, and nearer to the sea« 
The soil also produces, in equal abundance, Indian corn, 
rice, hemp, flax, indigo, cotton, pot-herbs, pulse of every 
Icind, and pasturage ; and the tobacco made here is 
esteemed preferable to any cultivated in other parts of 
America. Hops grow wild; all kinds of European fruit 
arrive to great perfection, and no pan of the known 
world is more favourable for the raising of every kind of 
stock. The climate is healthy and temperate ; the coun- 
try delightful and well watered ; and the prospect is 
beautiful and extensive, variegated by many inequalities 
and fine meadows, separated by innumerable copses, the 
trees of which are of different kinds, but mostly of wal- 
nut and oak. The rising grounds, which are clothed 
with grass and other herbs of the finest verdure, are 
properly disposed for the culture of vines ; the mulberry 
trees are very numerous, and the winters sufficiently 
moderate for the breed of silk worms. Clay of different 
colours, fit for glass works and pottery, is found here in 
great abundance ; and also a variety of stately timber fit 
for house and ship building, &c. The elevated, open 
and airy situation of this country renders it less liable to 
fevers and agues (the only disorders ever known in this 
neighbourhood) than some other parts bordering on the 
Mississippi, where the want of sufficient descent to con- 
vey the waters off occasions numbers of stagnant ponds, 
v/hose exhalations infect the air. 

MANUFACTURES, &C, OF LOUISIANA. 

" There are but few domestick manufactures. The 
Acadians manufacture a little cotton into quilts and 
cottonadas ; and in the remote parts of the province, 
the poorer planters spin and weave some negro cloths 
of cotton and wool mixed. There is one machine for 
spinning cotton in the parish of Ibberville, and another 



AND IMPROVEMENTS. 



381 



in the Opelousas ; but they do little or nothing. In the 
city, besides the trades which are absolutely necessary, 
there is a considerable manufacture of cordage, and 
some small ones of shot and hair powder. There are 
likewise in and within a few leagues of the town twelve 
distilleries for making taffia, which are said to distil 
annually a very considerable quantity ; and one sugar 
refinery, said to make about 200,0001b. of loaf sugar.'* 

" Navigation employed in the trade of the province. 
In the year 1802, there entered the Missisippi 268 ves- 
sels of all descriptions, 18 of which were publick armed 
vessels, and the remainder merchantmen, as follows, viz. 
American. Spanish. French. 



Ships 


48 


14 


Brigs 


63 


17 


Polacres 




4 


Schooners 


50 


61 


Sloops 


9 


1 



iro 97 1 

Of the number of American vessels, 23 ships, 25 brigs, 
19 schooners, and 5 sloops came in ballast, the remain- 
der were wholly, or in part laden. The Spanish ships 
and 7 schooners came in ballast. The united tonnage 
of all shipping that entered the river, exclusive of the 
publick armed vessels, was 33,725 register tons. In the 
same year there sailed from the Missisippi 265 sail, viz. 
American Tons. Spanish. Tons. 



Ships 


40 1 


in ballast 8972 


18 




3714 


Brigs 


58 




7526 


22 


1 in ballast 1944 


Schooners 


51 




4346 


58 




3747 


Sloops 


8 




519 


3 


1 in ballast 108 


Polacres 


158 




- 


3 

104 


1 in ball 


ast 240 


- 


21,383 


9753 


French. 


Tons. 






Total. 


Tons. 


Schooners 


; 3 


105 


Americans 


158 


21,383 








Spanish 




104 


9753 








French 




3 


105 



Grand total, 265 3 1 ,24 1 
The tonnage of the vessels which went away in bal- 
last, and that of the publick armed ships, are not included 
in the foregoing account j these latter carried away 
masts, yards, spars, pitch, tar, &c. at least 1000 tons. 
In the first six months of the present year, there entere4 



3jS2 ON AMLRICAN MANUFACTURES 

t^e Mississippi 173 sail, of all nations, 4 of which were 
publick armed vessels, viz. 2 French and 2 Spanish, 
whose tonnage is not enumerated. 

American. Tons. Spanish. Tons. French. Tons 



Ships 23 .5396 


14 


3080 


5 


1002 


Brigs 44 5701 


20 


2173 


8 


878 


Polacres 


3 


480 


2 


436 


Schooners 22 1899 


18 


1187 


7 


483 


Sloops 4 278 


3 
58 


167 
7087 


22 




Total, 93 13,264 


2804 


Total of Ships. 




Total of Tons. 




American, 93 




13,264 




Spanish, 58 






7087 




French, 22 






2804 




Grand total, 173 




22,155 




In the same six months 


there sailed from the Missi- 


sippi 156 vessels, viz. 










American. Spanish. 




French. 




Ships 21 


18 


' 


2 




Brigs 28 


3 




1 




Polacres 


4 








Schooners 17 


26 




5 




Sloops 2 


1 









68 80 



APPENDIX. 



CORRECT LIST OF ALL THE PATENTS 

THAT HAVE BEEN TAKEN OUT OF THE OFFICE OF THE SE- 
CRETARY OF STATE, FROM JULY, 1790, TO JANUARY 
1805, SPECIFYING THE SUBJECT OF THE PATENTS, WITH 
THEIR DATES, AND THE NAMES OF THE PATENTEES. 

1790. 

MAKING pot and pearl ashes, Samuel Hopkins, July 
31. Manufacturing candles, Joseph Stacey Sampson, Aug. 6. 
Manufacturing flour and meal, Oliver Evans, Dec. 18. 

1791. 

Punches for types, &c. &c. Francis Bailey, Jan. 29. Im- 
provement in distilling, Aaron Putnam, Jan. 29. Driving 
piles for bridges, John Stone, March 10. Threshing grain 
and corn, machine for, Samuel Mulliken, March 11. Break- 
ing and swingling hemp, &c. Samuel Mulliken, March 11. 
Machine for cutting and polishing marble, &c. Samuel 
Mulliken, March 11. Machine for raising a nap on cloths. 
Sec, Samuel Mulliken, March 11. Machine for spinning 
flax, hemp, Sec. George Parkinson, March 17. Improvement 
in tide mills, Jonathan Dickerson, July SO. Machine for 
making nails, Samuel Briggs, sen. and jun. Aug. 2. Machine 
for threshing wheat. Sec. William Thomson, Aug. 2. Di- 
minishing the friction of spindles, Robert R. Livingston, Aug. 
4. Making the extracts of barks, John Biddis and Thomas 
Bedwell, Aug. 10. Improved bedstead, Ludwig Conrod Kuhn, 
Aug. 10. Manufacturing boots, Peter Gordon, Aug. 10. 
Propelling boats by cattle, Henry Voight, Aug. 10. Manu- 
facturing gunpowder. Henry Keyser, Aug. 10. Horizontal 
water wheels for Mills, James Macomb, Aug. 26. Improve- 
ment of Dr. Barker's mill, James Rumsay, Aug. 26. Im- 
proved mode of working mills, James Rumsey, Aug. 26. 



384 APPENDIX. 

Improvement of Savary's steam engine, James. Rumsey, 
Aug. 26. Bellows, James Rumsey, Aug. 26. Generating 
steam, James Rumsy, Aug. 26- Propelling boats or vessels, 
James Rumsey, Aug. 26. Propelling boats, &c. by steam. See. 
John Fitch, Aug. 26. Improved boiler of the steam engine, 
Nathan Read, Aug. 26. Improvement in distilling, Nathan 
Read Aug 26. Boiler for generating steam, John Stevens, 
jun. Aug 36. Improvement in captain Savary*s steam en- 
gine, John Stevens, jun. Aug. 26. Application of steam to 
work bellows, John Stevens, jun. Aug. 26. Improvement 
of Savary's steam engine, Englehart Cruse, Aug 26. Ma- 
chine for clearing docks or harbours, Peter Zacharie, Nov. 
24. Machine for spinning cotton, William Pollard; Dec. 30. 

1792. 

Cleansing whale oil, Benjamin Folger, Jan 2. Spinning 
and twisting thread, Obadiah Herbert, Jan. 28. Steam Jack, 
John Bailey, Feb' 23. Hardening and tempering steel, David 
Hartley, Feb 24. Improvement in making bricks, David 
Ridgeway, March 7. Canvass conductor to be used when 
houses are on fire, Samuel Green, March 28. Weaving of 
wire, Timothy Kirk and Robert Leslie, May 9. Machine for 
sawing wood and bark, Thomas Farrington, May 9. Pre- 
servation of plants from frost. Sec. George Morris, July 10. 
Machine called " the wheel of knives," for shearing and 
raising the nap on cloths, Samuel G. Dorr, Oct. 20. Hand- 
mill for picking millstones, Solomon Hodge and Jonathan 
Dorr, Oct. 23. 

1793. 

Improved machine for manufacturing tobacco, James Cald- 
well and Christopher Batterman, Jan 26. Improvement in 
wind mills, Joseph Pope, Jan. 2 6. Manufacturing bricks, 
Christopher Colles, Jan. 26. Improved mode of turning a 
spit, Samuel Morey, Jan 29. Double pendulum for ships, 
Robert Leslie, Jan. 30. Clock pendulum, Robert Leslie, 
Jan. 30. Double pendulum, Robert Leslie, Jan. 30. Manu- 
facturing oiled silk and linen, &c. Ralph Hodgson, Feb. j . 
Manufacturing rhus or sumach, Richard Rosewel Saltonstall, 
Feb 28. Improvement in paper moulds. John Carnes, jun. 
April 11. Furnace for pot and pearl ashes, Edward Ryan, 
April 29. Moulds for claying sugar, Jonathan Williams, jun. 
March 13. Manufacturing rhus or sumach, Richard Rose- 
well Saltonstall, May 1. Stove of cast iron, Robert Hete rick, 
June 11. Applying and regulating the sails of ships, boats, 
&c. Joseph Stacey Sampson, July 5. Manufacturing brick 
and pantile, Samuel Brouwer, Aug. 17. Machine for pro- 
pelling vessels. Sec. Abijah Babcock, Dec. 2. Disputed claim 
for a machine to work in a current of water. Sec decided in 
favour of John Clarke, Daniel Stans^pury, Apollos |s.insley, 
John Clarke, Dec. 31. 



APPENDlXi 385 



1794. 



ManuFacturing nails, Thomas Perkins, Feb. 7. Weaving 
and beatinj^ sail duck, James Davenport, Feb. 24. Improve- 
ment in distilling spirituous liquors, Joseph Simpson, March 
4. Round saw, Zachariah Cox, March 14. Machine for gin- 
ning cotton, Eli Whitney. March 14. Mode of preventing 
the progress of fire, Benjamin Taylor, March 23. Improve- 
me-.it in manufacturing paper, &c. John Biddis, March 3 !• 
Composition for flooring houses, Sec. Richard Robotham, 
April 12. Improvement in carriages, to be propelled by the 
mechanical powers, John J. Staples, April 25. Machine for 
threshing grain, &c. William Hodgson, April 28. Construc- 
tion of bellows, James Drake, May '9. Manufacturing of 
candles, Richard Robotham, June 2. Manufacturing cordage, 
George Parkinson, June 16. New mode of grinding bark, 
John Markley, July 19. Improvement in the method of 
working pumps, Elisha Rigg, July 29. Improvement in a 
steam still, Alexander Anderson, Sept. 2. New mode of 
propelling vessels, Benjamin Wynkoop, Sept. 13 Mode of 
making salt, James Fennel, Sept* 24. Improvement in 
making bricks, Apollos Kinsley, Feb. 1, 1793. Construction 
and tone of bells, Robert Leslie, Feb. 2, 1793, Improve- 
ment in Hydraulicks, Joshua Hatheway, Oct. 29. Improve- 
ment in a threshing machine, James Wardrop, Nov. 5, 
Improvement in stills, John Kincaid, Nov. 25. Tempering 
mortar and making bricks, Apollos Kinsley, Dec. 20. 

1795. 

Machine for cutting nails, Jacob Perkins, Jan. 16. Im- 
provement in the mode of breaking hemp and flax, Samuel 
MuUiken, Jan. 15. Improvement in shearing woollen and 
other cloths, Samuel Kellogg, Jan. 31. Machine for cutting 
nails, Josiah G. Peerson, March 23. New mode of catching 
fish, Joseph Ellicott, March 25. Improvement in the appli- 
cation of steam, Samuel Morey, March 25. Construction 
of a caboose, John Youle, May 25. Improvement in the 
manufacturing of cordage, John Pitman, May 25. Improve- 
ment in propelling boats, Daniel Keller, May 25. Propelling 
boats, &c. with horses, William Peter Sprague, June 19. 
Nautical ventilators, Benjamin Wynkoop, June 19. Tinned 
sheet copper condensing worm, John Taylor, June 30. 

1796. 

Improvement in making nails, Jared Byington, Jan. 15, 
Improvement in sawing and polishing marble, &c. Jonathan 
Dickerson, Jan. 9. Manufacturing seal skins, James Eaton, 
Feb. 12. Removing pains, &c. by metallick points, Elisha 
Perkins, Feb. 19. Raising water by wind, Samuel Morey, 
April 11. Machine for cleaning wheat, &c. See Benjamin 
Tyler, April 15. Improvement in tanning leather, James 

3 i> 



388 APPENDIX. 

Davis, April 14. Improved mode of forming a yellow co- 
lour, Thomas Bedwell, April 20. Composition of" biliou*; 
pills," Samuel Lee, jun. April 30. Machine for cutting nails 
and brads, Peter Zacharie, May 4. Improvement in manu- 
facturing, sumach, Joseph Hilyard, May 12, Improvement 
in bolting cloths, Robert Dawson, May 12. Improvement in 
the cotton gin, Hodgen Holmes, May 12. Cleaning clover 
and other seeds, &c. Jonathan Roberts, jun. Feb. 13. Im- 
provement in piano fortes, James Sylvan lis M'Leaii, May '27. 
Improvement in burr mill-stones, Oliver Evans, May 28. 
New invented steam engine and boiler, Elijah Backus, May 
3/. Stays for removing distortions in the spine, Lunden 
M'Kechnie, July 1. Improvement in Sawing and polishing 
marble, &c. Joseph Francis Man gin, July 2. Machine for 
scouring nee and other grain, Robert Gram, Oct. 17. Im- 
provement in making salt, George James, Nov. 16. Improve- 
ment in concentrating the volatile parts of calcareous earth, 
stones. Sec. John Fowler, Nov. 16. Improvement in manu- 
facturing cut nails, Peter Cliff, Nov. 16. Machine for bead- 
ing and cutting nails, Isaac Garretsbn, Nov. 16. Improvement 
in a printing press, Apollos Kinsley, Nov. 16. Improvement 
in splitting sheep skins, James Stansfield, Nov. 16. New 
method of ruling books and paper, Mark Isambard Brunei, 
Nov 1 6. Improvement in pumps, Theobald Bourke, Nov. 
16. Manufacturmg potash, William Frobishcr, Nov. 17, 
Improvement in forging bolts and round iron, Clement Rent- 
gin, Nov. 17. Improvement in a loom for weaving cloth, 
Amos Whittemore, Nov. 17. A " preambulator" for mea- 
suring a ship's way, Amos Whittemore, Nov. 19. Machine 
for cutting nails, Amos Whittemore, Nov. 19. Improvement 
in manufacturing nails, John Bigelow, Nov. 19. Improve- 
ment in cutting and headirg nails, &c. George Chandlee, Dec. 
12. Conjuror for cooking and boiling, Thomas Passmore, 
Dec. 23. Improvement in manufacturing cut nails, Daniel 
French, Dec. 23. Improvement in manufacturing wrought 
nails, Daniel French, Dec. 23. Improvement in heading 
nails, Jared Byington, Dec. 23. Improvement in heading- 
nails, Jason Frost, Dec. 23. Machine for separating scoured 
rice, James Dellet, Dec. 23. Improvement in ginning cotton, 
Robert Watldns, Dec. 23. Improvement in ginning cotton, 
John Murray, Dec. 23. 

1797. 

Improvement in making soap. John Nazro, Jan. 6, Ex- 
tracting alkali from marine salt and kelp, John Nazro, Jan. 
6. Improvement in bridges, Charles Wilson Peale, Jan. 21. 
Improvement in cuttmg and heading nails, James Spence, Feb. 
16. Improvement in cutting and polishing marble, &.c. Jo- 
seph F. JV^angin, Feb. 16. Improvement in stoves, James 
M'Callmont, Feb. 20. Improvement in scouring or skmning 



APPENDIX. 387 

rice, Samuel Mulliken, Feb. 20. Improvement in chimneys, 
Richard Stuart, Feb. 24. Improvement in bridges, John 
Fowler, Feb. 24. Improvement in cutting and heading nails, 
Jesse Kersey, Feb. 24. Improvement in mixing colours and 
painting, Lawrence Allwine, Feb. 24. Improvement in stoves, 
Thomas Hirsti March 11. Machine for threshint>- wheat, 
8cc. William Booker, March 11. Improvement in a tide- 
water wheel, Silas Betts, March 18. Improvement in wash- 
ing clothes, Nathaniel Briggs, March 18. Improvement in 
stoves, Caleb Wheaton, March 29. Improvement in fire 
engines, Jesse Kersey, April 13. Improvement in boring 
pumps, Caleb Leach, April 13. Combination of astringent 
woods and vegetables in distilling. Sec. Fitch Hall, April 17. 
Improvement in propelling boats and vessels, by steam en- 
gines, Jehoshaphat Starr, April 28. Improvement in pro- 
pelling carriages, William Faris, April 29. Antibilious pills, 
Benjamin Duval, May 3. Improvement in constructing and 
rigging vessels, Isaac Garretson, May 29. Improvement in 
bridges, John Stickney, June 3. Improvement in manufac- 
turing wool cards, &c. Amos Whittemore. June 5. Improve- 
ment in looms, David Grieve, June 8. Raising a nap on 
cloths, Waller Burt, June 23. Rollers for slitting and other 
mills for rolling iron, Benjamin Seymour, June 26. Im- 
provement in straitening iron hoops, Benjamin Seymour, 
June 26. Pendulous bellows, for pumping ships, Benjamin 
Wynkoop, June 26. Improvement in making candles, Jo- 
seph Stacey Sampson, June 26. Improvement in ploughs, 
Charles Newbold, June 26. Mode of preserving butter, 
Moses Johnson, June 30. Improvement in forming bricks, 
tiles, &c. John Hawkins, July 11. Improvement in extract- 
ing teeth, Thomas Bruff, Julv 1. Improvement in making 
shingles, boards, he. Bill Jarvis, July 8. Improvement in 
cutting tobacco^ Apollos Kinsley, August 12. Improvement 
in cutting and heading nails, Jonathan Nevil, August 12. 
Improvement in saw -mills, Henry Dulheur, August 18. 
Improvement in mills, Jonathan W. Curtis, August 24. Im- 
provement in fire-places, C hades W. Peale, Nov. 16. Im- 
provement in saddles, Thomas Stickney, Nov. 16. Improve- 
ment in breaking dough and paste, Daniel Pettibone, Nov. 
16. Improvement in threshing grain, Richard R. Eliot, 
Nov. 5 6. Improvement in clocks, time-keepers, and watches, 
Eli Terry, Nov. 17. Improvement in making sashes, Ste- 
phen Parsons, Nov. 20. Machine for propelling boats, John 
Martin, Nov. 21. Improvement in bridges, Timothy Palmer, 
Dec 17 A spiral wheel for working in tide-water, Elias 
Ring, Dec. 10. A soap-stone stove, William Payne, Dec. 
10. Improvement in making nails, Lester Fling, Dec. 19. 

1798. 

Machine for cutting and heading nails, Nathan Read, Jan. 
8. Improvement in grinding coffee, Thomas Bruff, senior 



388 APPENBI^t. 

Jan. 8. Machine for priming paper, leather, &c. John Dixey, 
Jan. ^4. Improvement in cutting and pointing comb-teeth, 
Isaac Tryon, Feb. 22. Improvement in wind-mills, Charles 
Holden, March 15. Machine for dipping candles, Samuel 
Blydenburg, March 22. Steam saw-mill, Robert M'Kean, 
March 24. Mill for sawing boards, Aaron Clarke, March 
30. Screw engine for throwing water, Elijah Orrasbecj 
March 21. Improvement in raising water from fountains, 
John Manning, April 10. Regulating the action of the tide 
on his spiral wheel, John Martin, April 27. Machine for 
raising water, Mark Isambard Brunei, April 27. Machine 
for removing rocks, Sec Isaac Lazell, May 18. A double 
steam engine, James Smallman and Nicholas J. Roosevelt, 
May 31 Machine for threshing wheat, Sec Thomas C. Mar- 
tin, June 2 Machine for propelling vessels, Charles Stou- 
dinger, June 2. Water-wheel flume for large streams, Wal- 
ler Brewster, June 7. An oblique pump, Jonathan Hunt, 
June 7 "A tallow lamp," John Love, JuneU. A composition 
for pills, Samuel Gooley, June 6. Improvement in stoves, 
John W. Godfrey and William Lane, July 14. Method of 
preserving vessels, &c. from worms, Raphaelle Peale, De- 
cember 14. Improvement in makin;> bread, William Banks, 
December 14. Machine for cutting screws, David Wilkin- 
son, December 14. Improvement in manufacturing paper, 
Cyrus Austin, December 14, Pipes and pumps for convey- 
ing water, Mark Reeve, December 14. Machine for clearing 
docks and harbours, Stephen Colver, December 14. Machine 
for heaving down vessels, raising weights, Sec. Stephen Colver, 
December 14. 

1799. 

Machine for raising water, Joseph Huntley, Jan. 10. Ma- 
chine for writing with two pens, Mark Isambard Brunei, 
Jan. 17. Method of regulating wind-mills, Thomas Thomp- 
son, Jan. S. .V'achine for making nails, Seih Hart, Jan. 4. 
Machine for manufacturing salt, John Sears, Jan. 24. Im- 
provement in a coal stove, Henry Abbot, Jan. 24, Machine 
for cultivating corn, beans, Sec Eliakim Spooner, Jan. 25. 
Machine for planting corn, beans, Sec. Eliakim Spooner, Jan. 

25. Improvement in a horizontal water-wheel, Ezekiel Reed, 
Feb. 14. Improvement in steelyards, Benjamin Dearborn, 
Feb. 14. Preparation of steel for cutting ?lass, Benjamin 
Du Val, Feb. 14 Improvement in making nails, Jacob Per- 
kins, Feb 14 A flax and hemp mill, Benjamin Tyler, Feb. 

26. improvement in casting iron, William Ha^icock, Feb. 
26. Extracting oil from cotton seeds, Charles Whiiing, 
March - Improvement in sharpening axes, Sec. John Shot- 
well, '*'arch j6. A check to detect counterfeits, Jacob Per- 
kins, March 19. Improvement in propelling boats, Josiah 
Shackford, March 21. I\iac>.ine for dressing cloth, Isaac 
Sandford, March 27. Obtaining force from crater by steamj 



APPENDIX. 389 

Samuel Morey, March 27. Machine for making combs, 
Phineas Pratt, April 12. Improvement in his water engine, 
Samuel Morey, April 24, Double-centered mill for wind or 
water, Benjamin Dearborn, April 30 New method of cut- 
ting clay for tiles, Andrew W. Duty, May 8. Machine for 
raising water, William Farris, May 17. " Machine to keep 
a ship's distance at sea,'* Chester Gould, May 27. Improve- 
ment in making ropes, Michael Wigglesworth, June 26. 
*' Bilious piils, Samuel H. P. Lee, June 26. Improvement 
in washing clothes, Ezra Weld, lune 26. Napping hats, 
Jam.es Long, Aug. 5. Purifying spermaceti oil, Richard Ro- 
botham, Aug. 14. A capstan fire-engine, Samuel Eli Hamlin, 
Aug 30. Federal balloon, Moses M^Farland, October 28. 
Manufacturing of paper, Robert R. Livingston, Oct. 28. 
Universal pump, Apollos Kinsley, Oct. 28# Boat for de- 
scending rapid streams, Daniel Keller, Nov. 5. Pumps for 
ships, mines, &c. John Stickr.ey, Nov. 29. Saw-mill, Tho- 
mas Payne, Dec. 2. Extracting oil from Palma Christi, 
John G. Gebhard, Feb. 4. Hawks* pills, John Hawks, Dec. 

14. Improvement in mills, Havilarcl Chase, Dec. 16. 
" Effeminate ropery for spinning rope yarn,*' John Pitman, 
Dec. 24. 

1800. 

Improvement on stoves and grates, Oliver Evans, Jan. 16. 
Machine for spinning rope yarn and twine, Stephen Gorham, 
Feb. 4. Composition to preserve wood, brick, &c. Silas 
Constant, Feb. 4. Machine for pounding rice, gunpowder, 
&c. Benjamin Bolitho, Feb. 7. Metal boxes for wood or iron 
to turn in, Wi'liam Shotwell, Feb. 7. Improvement in 
pianofortes, John J. Hawkins, Feb. 12. Method of covering 
salt vats from the weather, Hattil Killey, 2d, Feb. 12. Ex* 
tracting the essence of sumach, fera, &c. for tanning, Na- 
thaniel Ladd, Feb 12. Engine for throwing water, Patrick 
Lyon, Feb 12. Raising or lifting hides in tanning, James 
Cox, Feb. 20, Improvement in grist mills, Benjamin Ty- 
ler, Feb. 20. Improvement in dying blue, John Percy, 
March 3. Lathe or loom for weaving, William Harris, 
March 15. Machine for manufacturing sumach. Comfort 
Hoyt, jun. April 7. Improvement in coach collars. William 
Hottensleen, April 10. Stop cock, Peter Walker, April 10. 
Improvement in the manufacture of boots and shoes, Dean 
Howaid, April 10. Improvement in the elastick truss for 
ruptures, Silas Stone, May 6. Engine for reducing silk, 
cotton, worsted, cloth, Sec. to their original state, to be 
manufactured, John Biddis, May 6. Silent moving time- 
keeper, Simeon Jocehn, May 8. Improvements in the con- 
struction of ships and vessels, Jeremiah Brown, May 14. 
Machine for making bricks and tiles, George Hadfield, May 

15. >;€lal amulets, Edward West, INIay 19. Machine for 



3yO APPENDIX. 

splitting hides and skins, Thomas O. Hanison, May 19. 
Mould board of a plou^^h, Robert Smith, May 19. Cogs, 
&:c. for pullies, &c. William Shotwell, June ^^4. Machine 
for cutting tobacco, Peter Lorillard, June 23. Kiln for 
drying grain, James Deneale, jun. July 10. Improvement 
in burning lime. Sec Pete? Lossing, Aug. 4. Machine for 
cooking, Frederick Butler, Aug. 22. Machine for cutting 
and heading nails, Frederick Young, Aug. 23. " Lavater," 
machine for washing and wringing clothes, Ezra Weld, 
Sept. 17. Machine for cutting tanner's bark, Jonathan Kii- 
born, Aug. 23. Improvements in chimneys, David Cooley, 
jun. and Gabriel N. Philips, Aug. 25. Improvement in ma- 
nufacturing bricks, Richard Mansfield, Oct. 24, Raising 
water for mills, Aaron Brookfield, Oct. 24. Improvement 
in musical instruments, John J. Hawkins, Oct. 24 Tele- 
graph (description) filed, Jonathan Grout jun. Oct. 24. 
Obtaining force from water, Avith the assistance of steam, 
Samuel Murray, Nov. ir. Hanging windows without weights, 
William Young, Nov. 20, 

1801. 

Machine for breaking flax, John Cannon, Jan. 17\ Jaun- 
dice bitters, Jesse Wheaten, Jan. 17. Cotton gin, Ebenezer 
W"hiting, Jan- 22, Improvement in sheathing vessels, Henry 
Guest, Jan. 26. Brewing with Indian corn, Alexander An- 
derson, Jan. 26» Condenser for heating wash in distilling, 
Alexander Anderson, Jan. 28. Axle tourniquet, Joseph 
Strong Jan. 29. Improvement in the construction of stoves, 
William Henderson, Feb. 12. Improvement in evaporation, 
Thomas Bedwell and Benjamin Henfrey, Feb. 12. Machine 
ifor making and heading nails, Michael Garber, Feb. 20. 
NiHydraulick machine for raising water, Barnabas Langdon, 
Feb. 20. Improvement in boats to ascend rivers, &c. David 
Grieve, Feb. 30. Increasing the surface of evaporation for 
the purpose of distilling, Benjamin Henfrey, March 2. Boring 
machine for posts for fencing, Richard Weems, March 16. 
Veneering plough for cabinet work, William Stillman, March 
16. Hydraulick engine, John Strong, .■'arch 24. Making 
and discharging chain and cleaver shot, Israel Hatch, March 
24. Cut nails from iron hoops. Sec. rendered tough, Nathan 
Kent, May 1. Stove, screw, and reel grain drying machine, 
David Eilicot, May 1 Impellent pump, Solomon Thayer, 
June 9. Nails milled out of heated rods, Jesse Reed, June 9. 
Extract of bark for dying, &c. Samuel Downing, June 12, 
Forcing pump, John Eveleth, June 13. Portable vapour bath, 
Charles W. Peale, July 16. Infusing oil into leather, he, 
Henry Guest, July 16t A beaming machine, Jeremiah Ladd, 
July 17. Mill for grinding painter's colours, See Caleb 
Green, July 23. Machine for extracting grain from straw. 
Sec. Christopher Hoxie> Aug. 20. A machine for raising 



APPEKDIX. 391 

water, William Palmer, Aug. 25. Improvement for cooling 
and conveying up meal, 8cc. Gurdon F. Saltonstall, Aug. 21, 
Metallick fluted gin rollers, for cleaning cotton, Gurdon F. 
Saltonstall, Sept. 2. Manufacturing spoons, Thomas Bruff, 
Sept. 14. Giving motion to wheels within cylinders, &c« 
James Sharpies, Sept. 15. Mechanical powers for the use 
of wind mills, &c. James Sharpies, Sept. 15. Manufacturing- 
potash, Thomas Power, Sept. 19. Moveable suspended 
beam and scale, Samuel Willis, Sept. 21. Air-pump venti- 
lator for ships, mines, Sec. Richard Robotham, Oct« 10. Ma- 
chine for ruling paper, &c. Richard Robotham, Oct. 10. A 
syphonick steam machine, John Poole, Oct. IS. Construction 
of stills, Michael Krafft, Oct 28. Machine for cutting and 
heading nails, William Leslie, Nov. 5. Improvement in a 
wind-mill, John A. Morton, Dec. 16. Improvement in a 
ship's pump, George Clymer, Dec. 22. Making paper from 
currier's shavings, Joseph Condit, jun. Dec. 28. 

1802. 

Improvement in the art of engraving, Joseph Hutton and 
Gideon Fairman, Jan. 8. Improvement in a wind-mill, Ru- 
fus Hathaway, Jan. 20. Irfiprovement in a time^piece, Si- 
mon Willard, Feb. 8. A machine for churning, Isaac Baker, 
Feb. 20. Improvement in boxes for carriages, Thomas B. 
Whilock, Feb. 23. Improvement in paddles for propelling 
boats, Richard Claiborne, Feb. 23. Improved mode of car- 
rying fish in warm weather, Nathaniel Robbins, March 11, 
Machme for cutting and grinding bark, Jacob Warrel, March 
17. Manufacturing starch from potatoes, John Biddis, March 
22. Improvement in a grist mill, John W. Holly, March 
27. Improvement in a saw mill, which returns the log after 
each cut, ^.ioses Coates, April 1. Improvement on a block 
macking gang-lathe, Ebenezer Whiting, April 1. Machine 
for ginning cotton, William Bell and Samuel de Montmollin, 
April 7. Machine for churning, Joel Pierce, April 10. Im- 
provement, being a cheap mode of obtaining light from 
fuel, Benjamin Henfrey, April 16. Extracting the essence 
of bark for dying, Samuel Downing, April 19. Machine for 
cleaning clover seed, Asher Spicer, April 22. Improvement 
in a saw mill, Kczekiah Richardson, jun. and Levi Richard- 
son, April 28. Machme for rolling iron round, Sec. Henry 
Abbott, ^»ay 4. Improvement in casting close stoves, Hen- 
ry Abbott, May 4. Improvement in flat roofs for houses 
and balconies, Henry Johnson, May 10. Mode of improving 
spirits, Burgiss Allison, May 12. Scientifick steelyards, 
Lewis du Pre, May 12. Machine for manufacturing salt, 
Benjamin Ellicott, May 12. New plan for printing musick. 
Andrew Law, May 12. Machine for cutting fur for the 
use of hatters, Nicholas Young, May 14. Machine for 



392 APPENDIX. 

cutting nails, Edward West, July 6. Improvement in head- 
ing and cutting nails, Edward West, July 6. Improvement 
in a gun lock, Edward West, July 6. Improvement in a 
steam boat, Edward West, July 6. Improvement in pumps, 
Jacob Perkins, July 9. Machine for cleaning wheat, Stephen 
Stilwell, July 9. Machine for cleaning out docks, John 
Greenleaf, July 13. IVlethod of rolling iron for nails, Jesse 
Reed, July 15. Improved machine for threshing and clean- 
ing wheat, Ezekiel Miller, July 19. Machine for making 
bricks, Ezekiel Miller, July 17. Machine for cleaning clover 
seed, Martin Miller, July 19. Machine for threshing grain, 
Joseph Pope, July 22. Antibilious pills, Thomas H. Row- 
son, July 24. Vlachine for making nails, Nathan Forbes, 
Aug. 2. Improvement in a trigonometrical quadrant, James 
Templeton, Aug. 17. Improvement in a still, William 
Paine Aug. 24. Improvement called a fire-stop, Elisha 
Putnam, Aug. 24. Economical house and ship steam kitchen, 
Nicholas Boureau, Aug. 30. Astronomical quadrant, .vlatthew 
C. Groves, Sept. 3 Machine for heading nails, Benjamin 
S. Walcott, Sept. 4. Improvement in fastening, in raising 
and supporting window sashes, Leonard Kennedy, Sept. 7. 
An evaporating turnace, John Richardson, Sept- 13. Machine 
for pressing cotton or other bale goods, Jacob Idler, ''• ept. 24. 
A steam engine (improvement in) Samuel Briggs, Jun. 
Oct. 9. Machine for raising water [a perpetual motion ! ! !] 
John Baptiste Aveilhe, Oct. 14. Improvement in splitting 
skins, Asa W. Chickering, Nov. 29. Improvement in ex- 
tracting neutral salts from alkaline, Benjamin Gorton, Nov. 
29. Improvement in erecting dry docks, John Gardiner, 
Dec 3. Machine for making nails, William Caruthers, 
Dec. 13. Improvement in the construction of mill wheels, 
James Cowen, Dec. 14. Improvement in stills, John Staples, 
Dec. 15. Improvement in making salt, Valentine Peers, 
Dec. 18. Improvement in a boiling cistern, Timothy Kirk, 
Dec. 28. Antibilious stomach cordial, Simon Lozarus, Dec. 
21. Improvement in the manner of welding cast steel to 
iron, Stc. Daniel Pettibone, Ezekiel Chapman, and Josiah 
Nichols, Dec. 22. An insubmersible boat, Abm. Du Bug 
Marentille, Dec. 2S. Improvement in manufacturing paper 
from corn husks, Burgiss Allison and John Hawkins, Dec. 
20. Machine for sawing stone and marble, William Palmer, 
Dec. 31. 

1803. 

Improvement in the caboose of a vessel for distilling fresh 
from salt water, Simeon Rouse, Jan. U A saw mill for 
cleaning cotton, Gurdon F. Saltonstall, Jan. 4. Machine for 
hulling rice, Christopher Hoxie, Jan. 7. Refrigerator for 
domestick uses, Thomas Moore, Jan. 27. Boiler for acce- 
lerating the evaporation of liquids, John INToffat, Feb. 1. Im 



APPENDIX. 39S 

provement in stills, John Moffat. Feb. 1. Machine for raising 
water, Benjamin Cooiey, Feb. 1. Manufacturing marie into 
lime, JedecUah Peasley, Feb. 1. Making brandy out of all 
kinds of grain or fruit, Christopher J. Hutter, Feb. 11. 
Machine for paring apples, Moses Coats, Feb. 14. Improve- 
ment in a a:auge aukjer, Abel Stowel, Feb. 14. A machine 
for makini; hot wrou^^ht nails, &c. Elisha Bartlett, Oliver 
Bartlett, Otis Bartlett, and Geort^e Bartlett, Feb. 17. Im- 
provement to their patented roller cotton gin, Wiliiam Bell, 
and John S. D. Montmollin, March 7. Improvement in 
extracting a spirit from starch water, John Naylor, March 7. 
A wheel to turn under water, Silas Bent, March 7. A hori- 
zontal whid mill, John Baptiste Aveilhe, March 16. A wreck 
raft, Abraham Du Buc Marentille, March 18. A sea sitting 
chair, Abraham Du Buc AiarentiUe, Marcn 18. A j ovver 
obtained by the risinv and falling of the tide to p,ive mo- 
tion to all kinds of machinery, John Staples, jun. Ai arch IB, 
Submarine passage, or hollow inverted arch, John v^taples, 
jun. March 18. A machine for cleaning clover seed, John 
Cottle, March 21. An improvement in timepieces, David 
F- Launay, March 21. Improvement in the process of ma- 
nufacturinsz sea salt, George Hunter, March 24, Improve- 
ment in the mode of obtainin-; antiseptick ^as, Peter De La 
Be arre, and J. B. M. Picornell, March 24. improved 
house fan, Edward Marquam, March 28. Antibilious pills, 
Thomas H. Ravvson, April 4. Improvement in his evapo- 
ratini' furnace, John Richardson, April 4. Improvement in 
a cooler or condenser of vapour, William How, April 6. 
Improvement in producing, steam, John Stevens, April 1 1. 
Improvement in a ruling machme, Daniel Brewer, April 
22. Improvement in heating and boihui^ water, Benjamin 
Piatt, April 27. Improvement in the mode of constructing 
vessels with crooked keels, Eliphalet Beebe, April i;7. iVia- 
chine for deepenin - channels, Matthew Barney, May 4. 
Improvement in buildini boats, William Hopkins, May 13. 
A rollin machine for cleaning cotton, Gurdon F. Saltonstall, 
May 14. Improvement in distilling spirits, Daniel ilsley, 
May 14. Improvement in cuttini; i^rain and grass, Richard 
French, and John T. Hawkins, May 17. Improvement in 
the\pentagraph and parallel ruler, John J. Hawkins, May 
17. \ Improvement in the application of the principle of rec- 
tifying or improving spirits, Burgiss Allison, May 17. Ma- 
chine for pumping, John Clarke, May 19. Improvement in 
working the bellows of a furnace or a forge, John W. God- 
frey, May 25. Expediting the manufacture of common salt, 
Timothy Alden, jun. May 24. Improvement in the method 
of distilhng or making alcohol, Lemuel J. Kilborn, June 4. 
Improvement in extracting the effective matter contained in 
barks. Sec. for dying, John Biddis, Thomas Bedwell, and 
William Mitchell, June 7. Machine for making hinges, 

3 E 



394 APPENDIX 

David Morse, June 10. Improvement in the manufacturing 
of Jiats, Ezra Cornine, jun. June 13. Improvement in the 
steam engine, Samuel Morey, Rufus Graves, and Giles 
Richards, June 15. Physiognotrace, Isaac Tood, Augustus 
Day, and William Bache, June 15. A rocking churn, Wal- 
ter Keeler, and James Waring, June 23. A machine for 
breaking and carding sheep*s wool, Benjamin Standring, June 
28. Machine for shearing woollen and other cloths. Liberty 
Stanley, June 25. Machine for pulling hair from skins, Ni- 
cholas Yount;, June 28. Improvement in the construction 
of iron cabooses, William Ashbridiije, June 28. Improve- 
ment called the Columbia fire-place, Robert Heterick, June 
30. Improvement in the mode of applyin."; springs to win- 
dow sashes, Samuel 3. Camp, July 1. Improvement in dis- 
tillation, by the application of steam in wooden or other stills^ 
Samuel Brov/n, Edward West, and Thomas West, July 8. 
Machine for packing goods, John Clark and Evan Evans, July 
20. Method of coolin : liquors, David Lownes, July 2 1« 
Method of securing leaden or other pipes from frost, &c» 
David Lownes, July 21. Machine for splitting and shaving 
shingles, Daniel French, July 25. Improving in a powder 
mill, Geor e Keyser, July 27. Machine for separating clover 
seed from the " pod,*' Timothy Kirby, July 28. Improve- 
ment in the construction of sills, Lewis Geanty, Aug. 4, 
Machine for borino: holes in rocks undes water, John Bap- 
tist Aveilhe, Aug. 24. Improvement in a water cock, George 
Youle, Aug. 25. Preparing seals' fur for hats, George 
Cleveland, Sept. 9. A wheel press, Hezekiah Betts, Sept. 
13. Mode of constructin^r carriages, John C Stroebel, Sept. 
19. Family pills, Daniel Coit, Oct. 15 Machine for mak- 
ing wrought nails and brads out of hot rods, Lazarus Ruggles, 
Oct 18. Threshing machine, Jedediah T. Turner, Oct 19. 
Improvement in the construction of the keels of vessels, 
Gilbert Livingston, Oct. 22. ^Machine for shelling corn, 
Paul Hlsbury, Oct. 25. Improvement in boilers, also work- 
ing stills with the same, William Thcrnton, Oct. 28. A 
horizontal draft wind-mill, Samuel Goodwin, Oct. 31. Find- 
ing salt wtiterand metals. Bletcnism J Valentine Cook, Nov. 
1. Vegetable elixer, or cough drops, Samuel Cooley, Nov. 
12. A dry bellows pump, Enoch Alden, Nov. 15. Improve- 
ment in spinning wheels, Amos Minor, Nov. 16. Improve- 
ment in wind-mills, Asahel E. Paine, Nov. 19. Improvement 
in fastening and supporting window sashes, Jacob Osborn, 
Nov. 24. Improvement in the cotton gin, William Bell, 
Nov. 24. Improvement in propelling boats for inland navi- 
gation, William Bell, Nov. 25. Improvement jn the wind- 
mill, William Bell, Nov. 25. A cylindrick ruler for ruHng 
paper, John Fairbanks, Nov. 30. Improvement in grinding 
painters' colours, printers' ink; &c. Jacob Cist, Dec 2. Ma- 
chine for separating the seed from cotton? Joseph Eve, DeCc 



APPENDIX. 393 

6i A twilling machine for pricking leather for cards, Pliny 
Karl, Dec. 6. Improvement in a fire engine, Stephen Seward, 
Dec. 6. Machine for rolling plates of iron and cutting them 
into nails, Samuel Rogers and Melville Otis, Dec. 7. Im- 
provement in window springs, James Curtis, jun. Dec. 10. 
Improvement in still heads and condensers, Edward Ri- 
chardson, Dec. 16. Improvement in making cold cut nails 
and brads out of rolled iron, Joseph Elgar, Dec. 16. Im- 
provement in separating clover seed, wheat, &c. from the 
husk, David Buckman, Dec. 21. A hydro* mechanical press, 
John Beverly, Dec. 26. Improvement in painting rooms, 
John Selby, Dec. 20. Improvement in making colours for 
painting, printing, &c. Francis Guy, Dec. 30. 

1804. 

Machine for making brick and tile, by cutting the mortar^ 
Nathaniel Miller and Philip W. Miller, Jan. 5. Improve 
mentin stills or boilers, Leonard Beatty, Jan. 19. Improve-^ 
ment in preparing quercitron or black oak bark for exportation 
or home consumption, for dying or other uses, Thomas Ben- 
ger, Jan. 25. " A double draught fire-place," Talmage Ross, 
Jan. 23. Improvement in the construction of stills, and the 
process of distilling spirits, William Wigton, Jan. 30. Im- 
provement called the screw-mill for breaking and grinding 
different hard substances, Oliver Evans, Feb- 14. Improve- 
ment in steam engines, by the application of a new principle 
by means of strong boilers to retain and confine the steam, 
thereby increasing the heat in the water, which increases the 
elastick power of the steam to a great degree, Oliver Evans, 
Feb. 14. Improvement in wheels to be moved either by 
wind or water ; for the purpose of giving motion to all kinds 
of machinery, mills, engines, carriages, ships, boats, &c. &c. 
John Staples, jun. Feb. 17. " In setting stills and other 
large kettles," Israel Wood, Feb. 21. Machine for threshing 
and cleaning grain, Thomas Barnett, Feb. 21. Improvement 
being a smut fanning-mill, Thomas Pierce, Feb. 21. Im- 
provement in hanging window sashes, William W. Hopkins, 
Feb.^ 24. " Improvement, being a spinning wheel and twist- 
ing-mill for the purpose of making cordage," William B. 
Dyer, Fen. 27. A machine for hulling clover seed, Jacob 
Worrell, Feb. 27. Improvement in air or bellows pumps for 
raising water, Daniel M. Miller, March 5. Improvement, 
being a machine for washing clothes, scouring, fulling, and 
cleansing cloth, Daniel S. Dean, Feb. 20. Improvement, 
being a mode of preparing marble for painting on, Archibald 
Robertson, March 5. Improvement in window fastenings, 
or springs for fastening and supporting sash-lights, Daniel M. 
Miller, March 8. Improvement in extinguishing fires in 
houses, &c. Samuel P. Lord, Jun. March 10. Machine for 
watering cattle, Moses Smith. March 16. Improvement in 



396 APPENDIX^ 

the bedstead, so constructed that it may be taken dowft and 
removed by one person, in case of fire, or on other occa- 
sions, with much ease and expedition, Ward Gilman and 
William Jackson, March 19. Machine for preparing what 
is commonly called top and swingled tow for paper, Abra- 
ham Frost, March 19. Improvement, being a " wry -fly," 
which may be applied by wind or water to various machines, 
viz. grist-mills, hulling-mills, spinning-mills, fulling-mills, 
paper-mills, and to the use of furnaces, Sec. Benjamin Tyler, 
March 19. Improvement in manufacturing coat and waist- 
coat buttons, George W. Robinson, March 24. Improvement, 
being an inclined-plane-statical-wheel machine, for facilitating 
the passage of boats in canals, or for removing earth, stones, 
or heavy bodies from hills, &c. by the inclined plane, John 
Williams, March 23. Machine for the improvement of na- 
viRation, Anthony Hunn, March 24. " Improved still and 
boiler,'* John Nay lor, March 31. Improvement in the mode 
of making shot, Phineas Daniel, March 31. Machine for 
breaking and cleansing flax and hemp, Owen Roberts, April 
12. Improvement in the mode of working sheet tin into 
different wares, Calvin Whiting, and Eli Parsons, April 14. 
Improvement in springs for window sashes, Joseph Eaton, 
April 14. Machine for slitting and heading nails, Michael 
Garber, April If. Double steam-bath still, John James Gi- 
raud, April 18. Machine for cleaning flax-seed from cockle, 
yellow-seed, cheat, and all foul seed, which may be applied 
to separate wheat, rye, and other grains from each other, 
and all impurities, Paul Goltry, April 24. Machine for 
shelling clover seed, Michael Withers, April 30. Improved 
machine for cutting straw and hay, Sec. Sec. Moses Coates 
and Evan Evans, April 30* Improvement in paper-mills, 
Thomas Langstroth, May 1. Improvement in the construe* 
tion of pump-boxes, or pumps, designed for the use of ships 
of war, merchant vessels, or other purposes where water is 
required to be raised, John Stickney, May I. Columbian 
threshing, break and cleaning fan, Samuel Houston, May 3. 
Machine to be fixed to the top of a common churn, Levi 
Stephens, May 8. Machine for shelling and cleaning corn, 
which may likewise answer the purpose of grinding tanners* 
bark, and provender for cattle and horses, Levi Stephens, 
May 8. Improvement of the lantern, John Staniford, jun. 
and Amos D. Allen, May 10. Composition for tablets 
to write or draw on, Amos D. Allen, May 10. Machine to 
cut strips or chips of wood to make chip hats, bonnets. Sec. 
Amos D. Allen, May 10. Furnace for making pot and pearl 
ashes, with the manner of using, and the materials of which 
the- same is composed, Edward Crafts, jUn. May 12. Ma- 
chine or apparatus for making salt, Ezra Weld, May 16. 
Machine for cleaning and moating cotton after it has been 
ginned, James Simons and Joseph M' James, May 17. Ma- 



APPENDIX. 



397 



chine for making nails and spikes, Burgiss Allison and Ri- 
chard French, June 8. Improvement in making thimbles, 
Asa Spencer, June 8. Improvement in machines for clearing 
grain from straw, &c. William Tunstall, June 30. Improve- 
ment in the mode of pumping and raising water, Benjamin 
Folger, July 7. Improvement in the construction of the 
fulling mill, called the double crank, Levi Osborn, July 12. 
Improvement in the plough, John Deaver, July 12. Improve- 
ment in the auger, Christopher Hoxie, July 12. Improve- 
ment in the lime-kiln, Thomas Power, July 12. Metallick 
grinder, or hone for razors, penknives, scissors, surgeons* in- 
struments, and all kinds of fine-edged tools. Christian Vel- 
tenair, Aug. 10. Improvement in the machine for cutting 
nails, Nicholas Boureau, Aug. 21. Machine for raising water 
from wells, William Harrington, Aug. 28. Improved wind- 
lass for ships or vessels, Hezekiah Betts, Aug. 29. Machine 
to cut chips or strips of wood to make chip hats and bon- 
nets, brooms, baskets, sieves, matting, and for various other 
uses, John Roberts, Amos D. Allen, and Ezekiel Kelsey, 
Sept. 5. Crushing plaster-mill, Emanuel Kent, Sept. 14. 
Improvement in suspenders. Orange Webb, Sept. 18. Im- 
provement m windmills, Richard Weems, Sept. 20. A 
wagon, or carriage, to be worked by hand, John Bolton, jun. 
Sept. 29. Method to prevent chimneys from admitting wa- 
ter in rainy weather, John James Thomas, Oct. 2. Forcing 
pump to raise water, Aaron Taylor, Oct. 4. " The rheuma- 
tick liniment," for chronick rheumatism, strains, &c. Abel 
Brown, Oct. 17. Improvement in gallows, or suspenders, 
for breeches, pantaloons, or trowsers, &c. Simon Smith, Oct. 
23. Improvement in candlesticks, Benjamin Dearborn, Oct. 
29. Machine for breaking dough, Laban Folger, Nov. 1. 
Machine for cooling and filtering water or other fluids, Daniel 
M'Mullin and Thomas M. Corby, Nov. 6. Composition, or 
cement, to prevent the roofs and other parts of houses from 
taking fire, David Stodder, Nov. 16. Improvement in sash 
springs, John Hooker, Nov. 19. Improvement in the thresh- 
ing machine, James Deneale, jun. Nov. 20. Improvement 
in the oil press, Josiah White, Nov. 27. Machine for gra- 
nulating gunpowder, E. I. Du Pont de Nemours, Nov. 23. 
Improvement in the cow or sheep bell, Simon Newton, Dec. 
22. Machine for cutting nails with, and not across, the grain 
of the metal, Frederick William Geyssenhayer, Dec. 22. 
Improvement in wmd-mills, William Stanton, jun. Dec. 26. 
" New invented window springs," Isaac Scott, Dec. 26 Ma- 
chine for boring gun-barrels, Nathan Fobes, Dec. 31. Manu- 
facturing ashes, Joseph Bellows, jun. and Ebenezer White, 
Dec. 29- Medicine called " bilious cordial,'* Samuel Cham- 
berlaine, Dec. SI. Mode of improving or setting a horge's 
ears, Seth Janes, Dec. 31. 



INDEX. 



A. 

ACHARD, Mr. on extracting sugjar from beet-root, 149 

Alyon, Mr. remarks respecting bleaching powder, - 195 

Agricultural Society in New- York, - - - 299 

in Philadelphia, * - -310 

Anderson, Col. improvements in the art of distilling, 332 

Aqua tinta engraving, . - - - - 10 

Arts, academy in Philadelphia, ... 343 

B. 

Bagging weaving, - - - 165 

Baldwin, Esq. on oil as a manure, - - 161 

Barnett, Mr. improvement hi malt kilns, - 256 

Bartley, Mr. raising potatoes, - - - 128 

Bonnard on evaporating salt water, ... - 183 

Bancroft, Edward Esq. on quercitron bark, &c. 129 

Barn, description of, - - - - 36T 
Bedford, Mr. improvement in the manufacturing of 

boots, &c. - . - . 360 

Beet root, sugar how made from, - - 149 

Bell, Mr. his moulds for making knife blades, &c. 169 
Bentham, Samuel Esq. his mode of facilitating divers 

processes by exclusion of air, &c. - 7\ 

Blackman, Mr. on preparing oil colour cakes, 155 

Bleaching, a powder for, - - . 95 

• of cotton, - - - - 248 

Blow-pipe, hydrostatick, . - - - - 362 

Blunt, Mr. his substitute for yeast, - - 100 

Boats, double, an account of - - - 115 

Boiler for steam engines, by Count Rumford, - 85 

by Mr. Lloyd, - 86 

Boots, Bedford's patent, - - - 36Q 



400 INDEX. 

Bridges, - . - - - - 293, 296, 311 

Bucket machine for raising water, - - 7 

Butter and cheese, directions for '.making, - 49 

C. 

Cadet, C. L. his method of making matches, - 87 

Cadet, Mr. his examination of glue, - - - 37 

Carbonell, Mr. his substitute for painting in distemper, 157 

Caterpillars, how destroyed on goosebery bushes, &c. 126 

Cattle or sheep, hoven or swollen, mode of relieving, 45 

Cement for preserving ships' bottoms, Sec. - - 161 

Chaptal, J. A. on the use of oxydes in dying, - 187 

on the use of mordants in dying, - 211 

— — — — - on the bleaching of cotton, - - 248 

Chimneys, how swept without emplaying children, 285 

Clagg, Mr his substitute for verdigris, - - 241 

Cline Henry, Esq. on the form of animals, - - 107 

Clover seed on raising and gathering, - - - 218 
Coals from the Lehigh river, description of, by Dr. 

Woodhouse, . « - - - 330 

Colours, machine for grinding, - - - - 1 

Compound, new invented for covering houses, 180 

Connecticut, manufactures, 8cc. in, - - - 298 

Cooper, James Esq. his observations respecting weather, 1 8 

Copper bolts, machine for driving into ships, - 10 

Curtis, Mr. his observations relative to burning stubble, 82 

D. 

Davy, Mr. on the analysis of soils, - - - HO 

Delaware, manufactures, &c. in, - - - 364 
Desformes and Clement, their mode of manufacturing 

sulphurick acid, - - - - 89 

Distilleries in Philadelphia, - - - 341 

Distilling, new method by Col. Anderson, - 332 

Dossie, Mr. his method of purifying fish oil, 29 

Duruc, Sen. his observations on opium, - 222 

E. 

Eager, Mr. his method of relieving swoln cattle, 45 

Ellis, John Esq. on the premature decay of fruit trees, 79 

F. 

Fay, Mr. his method of tanning leather, - 15 

Felton, Mr. his mode of separating beer from yeast, 99 

Fisher, Mr. his mode of blasting rocks, - 1 1 

Fish oil, Mr. Dossie's method of purifying, - 29 



IWD£X. 40i 

Fish glue, method of obtaining a copious supply, 34 

Fruit trees, how to prevent their premature decay, 79 

■ means of promoting their growth, 150 

how preserved from hares and rabbits, 170 

Furnace, a reverberatory, experiments made in, 216 

G. 

Gaddin, Mr. John his observations on the manufac- 
turing of saltpetre, - - - 276 
Georgia, manufactures, &c. in, - - . 377 
Glue> method of increasing its supply, - - 34 
— — how made, - - - - 141 
Griffith, H. D. Esq. on lime mixed with gunpowder 

for blasting rocks, ----- 122 

Guyton, Mr. his apparatus for purifying infected air, 32 

Gypsum, observations on, by Chancellor Livingston, 195 

H. 

Haden Benjamin, his improvement in bagging weaving, 1 65 
Hahneman Dr. his test for wine, - - 182 
Hayes, Mr. Thomas, on the danger of using ves- 
sels of lead, &c. in dairies, - - - 47 
Hazard, Mr. Josiah, on making butter and cheese. 
Hemp, on raising and dressing, by Edward An till, Esq. 102 
— — - process of watering, ^ - - - 27 
Henderson, Wm. Esq. on destroying caterpillars on 

gooseberry bushes, &c, - - - -«126 
Herrings, Dutch method of curing, - - ^r^ 97 
Holden, Mr. Thomas, his implement to enable shoe^ 

makers to work in a standing posture, 5 

Honey, best mode of collecting, - - - 171 

I. 



Ice, how made in Benares, ... 280 

Ink, indelible, how made, - - - 255 
Iron bars, how connected and coated with lead, so 

as to form solid pillars for light-houses, &c. 186 

J. 

Johnson, Mr. W. B. on the manufacturing of glue, 14 1 

L. 

Lampadius's experiments in a reverberatory furnace, 216 
Leather, patent for tanning, - - - 15 

3 F 



402 INDEX* 

Lewis, Mr. Joseph, on preventing accidents in carriages j 193 
Levava&seur, Gen. his mode of rendering whitewash 

permanent, ... 91 
L'Hommedieu, Ezra Esq. on raising and collecting 

clover seed, • - - • 219 

Lime, its use in blasting rocks, - - - 122 

Livingston, Robert R. Esq. on the profit and loss in a 

flock of Merino sheep, - - 117 
Livingston, Mr. Chancellor, on calcareous and gypseous 

earths, - • 195 

Lloyd, Mr. his patent boiler for steam engines, 86 

Logs of wood, apparatus for splitting, - 13 

M. 

McCarthy, his compound for covering houses, - 189 

Malt kilns, patent for, - - • 256 

Manufacuring Society in Pennsylvania, - - 311 

Martin, Mr. his patent for tanning leather, - 17 

Maryland, manufactures, &c. in, - - 305 

Massachusetts, manufactures, &c. in, - - 293 

Massey, James Esq. on making saltpetre, 266 

Matches, wooden for firing cannon, - - 87 

Maxwell, Mr. Hugh, his improvements in printing, 363 

Merino sheep, profit and loss on, - - 117 

Mildew, remarks on, - - - - 41 

^ill machinery^ improvements in, by Mr. O. Evans, 335 

Mineral water, artificial manufactory of, - - 326 

Mississippi Territory, manufactures in, - 379 

Mitchel, Dr. his remarks on the combustibility of water 2 1 8 

Mollersten, Mr. on water proof leather, - - 168 

Morel, Mr. on extracting oil from bene seed, 247 

Moulds for making knife, razor, and scissor blades, 169 

Museum, Mr. Peale's - - - 354 

N. 



New Jersey, manufactures in, &c. = - - 300 

New York, manufactures in, &c. - - - - 299 

North Carolina, manufactures in, &c. - - - 373 

O. 

Ohio, state of, manufactures in, &c. - - 270 

Oil, how used as manure, - - - - 243 

— expressed from seeds, - . _ - 247 

Orchards, how preserved, - - - - 139 

Opium, on its culture by Citizen Duroc, - 223 

' by Dr. Ricketson. - 233 

bv J. Ball, - • - 230 



INDEX. -403 

p. 

Painting in distemper, substitute for, - - 157 
Parmentier, Mr. his observations on increasing the 

supply of glue, - • - - 34 
Paring and burning, communications respecting, 83 
Peach trees, on preventing their premature decay, 80 
Pennsylvania, manufactures, Sec in, - - - 366 
Philips, IVfr his apparatus for driving copper bolts in- 
to ships, ------ 10 

Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, - - 310 

Pneumatick cock, by Mr Hare - - - 361 

Potatoes, on their cultivation, - - - - 123 

' on raising them from seed, - 128 

-— whether whole or cuttings were best planted, 1 52 

— — further observations on planting, - - 166 

Printing, improvement in, by Mr. Maxwell, - 363 

R. 

Railways, iron, - - - - - - -282 

patent for, ----- 236 

account of, at Pennrhyn, - - - 239 

Rawlinson, Mr. his machine for grinding colours, 1 
Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, manufac- 
tures, &c. in, - - - - 279 
Rhedie, Capt. his mode of uniting iron bars, - 265 
Rice, on making bread from, - - - 210 
Rigging, standing of ships, to be made of metal, 57 
Rocks, improvement in blasting, - - 11 
Rumford, Count, on conveying heat by steam, 58 
' on a boiler for a steam engine, 85 

S, 

Saltpetre, how made in France, - - - 255 

' how in Sweden, - - - 270 

Salt waters, how evaporated in Bavaria, - - 183 

Saws, &c. how manufactured by Mr. Arnold, - 253 

Scherer, Mr. on indelible ink, - - 255 

Seeds, how preserved, - - - - 181 

Shoemakers, how to work in a standing position, 5 

Sergeant, Mr. his engine for raising water, - 7 

Shot manufactories, - - - - 332 

Slater, Mr. his patent for making ships' rigging of metal, 57 

Sneyd, John Esq. on preserving seeds, - - )81 

Snodgrass, Mr. on heating apartments by steam> 336 

Soils, analysis of, - - - - uo 

Steam engines, in Philadelphia, - - 333 

the use of in conveying heat, - 58 

Mr. Evans's improvements in, 33, "? 



404 



INDEX. 



Stone, Mr. his mode of fermenting flour \vith little yeast 93 
Stubble, on the burning of, - - - 82 



T. 

Tenant and Knox, their bleaching powder, 

Tennessee, state of, its manufactures, &c. - 3f4 

Test for wine, description of, - - - 182 

V. 

Van Marum, his method of extinguishing fire, 22 

Van Mustacher, Baron, on distilling, - - 259 

Van Zach, Mr. his remarks on Van Marum, . - 25 

Varley, Mr. his apparatus for aqua-tinta engraving, 10 

Verdigrise, on a substitute for, - - - - 241 

Vermont manufactures, &c. in - - - 290 

Victor, Citizen Saint, on rooting up stumps of trees, 14 

W. 

Wells, how to procure good water from, , - 253 
Wheel carriages, preventing accidents in, - 193 
Wheel drag, description of, - - - 2 
White-wash, how rendered durable, - 91 
Whittle, rev. Edward, on the cultivation of potatoes, 123 
Wilde, Mr. Joseph and Arnold, their mode of manu- 
facturing saws, &c. - - - 253 
Wilkes, Joseph, Esq. on iron railways, - 234 
Wimpey, Rev. on planting cuttings of potatoes, 152, 166 
Woodhonse, Dr. his analysis of Lehigh coals 
Woodhouse, Mr- Jonathan, his patent for iron railways, 236 
Worth, Mr. John, his cement for preserving ships' 

bottoms, - - - - 

Wyatt, Mr. Benjamin, his account of Pennrhyn iron 

railway, - - - -- 239 

Y. 

Yeast, method of fermenting large quantities of flour 

with a small quantity of, - - - 93 

a substitute for, - - - - 100 

Young's Annals, extract from, on mildeW)- - 41 



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